


Just as Plan

by ShadeofGreen



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Ending One (Persona 5), Canonical Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-09-25 18:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17126552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeofGreen/pseuds/ShadeofGreen
Summary: Countdowns are fun. Countdowns are grand. Countdowns almost always end with a bang!Countdowns are also completely worthless and meaningless if you don't actually care on what is exactly counting down.(Or, Masayoshi Shido decides to do something that is very logical, and it bites himwayinto the future.)





	1. Three

**Author's Note:**

> Writers block on a different fic and two wildly different Persona 5 fics that most likely will never make it past the planning/outline stage are credited for the creation of this fic. In fact, the original characters appearing here are taken from those two fics, just altered and tweaked. I do hope you don't mind them. Both of them are important for the development of the story.
> 
> Please excuse any grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, ooc-ness, and any game canon/continuity errors.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Generally, this statement is understood that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. It’s strange to bring up a physic law outside of a physic lesson that is usually taught in school, but Masayoshi Shido found it to be very fitting for his current situation.

Almost sixteen years ago, Shido had decided to end his relationship with his mistress. She was pregnant with a child. Shido, who at the time was in a relationship –and not to mention having a rising career in politics- thought it would be best to end everything off. The woman and Shido fought, but they came to an ‘agreement’, resulting in the two living their lives separately, far away from each other.

Shido heard from people that the pathetic woman died several years after giving birth to her child, who was living from house to house. Shido frankly didn’t care much about the child to actually look him up. It’s not like the kid would want to say, plan some form of revenge for ‘ditching’ them, alongside being a possible driving force that caused the death of his mother.

This is, hilarious enough, is what exactly happen. You see, the boy had decided to show up on Shido’s radar. For some reason or another, the boy, for the last month, been trying to gain audience with Shido, with one of Shido’s associates that had spoken to the boy, saying it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Access to another world, where Shido can finally achieve his dreams and goals…there's no way Shido is going to turn down the key to success.

However, Shido can tell from the gleam of the boy’s eyes that he lusted for justice, no, vengeance, for his dear departed mother. Shido can feel the anger just by the boy’s stance. Just one look at the boy one can he was willing to do anything to get it by any means necessary.

Even if it means the boy is willing to destroy his own soul.

After many restless nights of thinking it over, Shido thought it would best to come up with a backup plan. Who knows what the future will bring, when Shido wins his well deserve victory? Who knows what Akechi will do on that promised day? It was better to be safe than sorry. So Shido is awake, sitting at the office of his apartment, searching through the files of his associates, and their associates and workers.

Regardless of the path Akechi choose to take down Shido, everything has to go just as plan.

* * *

The Sonozaki Group is a multi-national corporation with many branches located throughout the world. While they are known in public for dealing with regular business trading and their investments in questionable projects and research, the private circles held rumors they ran even more questionable projects and research, provided they can gain a profit from it.

The rumors are truth of course; Goro saw them firsthand himself. Despite his jolly nature, Sonozaki gives no care about the lives lost in the projects he backed; always claiming he was not responsible. In fact, Sonozaki was the first of Shido’s associates to offer his service. That service is the Sonozaki BioTech Lab, where the Metaverse and its affect of the real world were research. Its original purpose was to develop technology for the Metaverse, but that ended quickly before one can say, “Jack Frost.”

Like many of the conspiracy members, Sonozaki has no idea who their Black Mask associate’s identity is. That’s why Goro is hiding inside a janitor closet at the BioTech Lab, overhearing Sonozaki talking to the former head scientist of Metavese technology. Sonozaki is sitting in the chair next to the scientist, a white box resting on his lap, a clean knife sitting on the table.

“I am truly upset with you, Dr. Maki!” Sonozaki’s booming voice echoes in the room. Then, he shakes shook his head with disgust, and places the resting box onto the Doctor’s table, opening it up to reveal a strawberry cake, cover top to bottom with whipped cream and colorful sprinkles.

The doctor sits in his chair, holding several paper plates and plastic forks. He then places them down onto the table, and pushes up his glasses. Goro tilts his head in confusion. _What could Dr. Kiyoshi be hiding from Sonozaki?_

“To think I had to find out this wonderful news from Shido himself!” Sonozaki picks up the knife, and cut a fat slice of cake, putting it onto the top of paper plate.

Dr. Kiyoshi remains silent when Sonozaki handed the plate to him, alongside a fork. The man stares at the cake, then the fork, before turning his focus onto Sonozaki.

“Did Shido actually tell you himself?” Dr. Kiyoshi’s voice is bland, without any feeling or sense of shock of Sonozaki knowing whatever secret the good doctor is hiding. Sonozaki gave out a hearty laugh. “ _Of course not!_ You know how Shido is! Always so secretive, trying to make sure he has the upper hand when push comes to shove. I’m not surprise Shido would figure out it and neglect to tell me. While I’m upset,” -and here Sonozaki’s voice became pensive - “I can understand why you would keep it hidden from me, and the public for that matter.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Believe it or not, I can empathize with you completely. And if you need a listening ear, you can all talk to me. Well, look at the time. I overstayed my welcome!”

Sonozaki glances at his wrist watch, and gives a friendly pat onto Dr. Kiyoshi’s shoulder. After removing his hand, Sonozaki stood up, and jogs towards the door. Sonozaki has his hand on the handle, and turns back to look at the doctor with a worrisome look.

“I do hope you’ll finish the cake. It’s would be a shame to waste _perfectly good food_. In fact, I hope you’ll share it this time around.”

When Sonozaki truly left the lab for good, Dr. Kiyoshi stares back at his plate and fork, setting them both onto the table. Not long afterwards, he then cuts another slice of the sweet dessert, and placed it onto another paper plate.

“Please come out of the janitor closet, Akechi,” states Dr. Kiyoshi in his bland voice, putting a plastic fork onto the new plate. “You know how I feel about you lurking from the shadows.”

Goro silently opens the door, and shuffles his way to the empty seat next to Dr. Kiyoshi. Goro would have asked how Dr. Kiyoshi figured it out, but Goro knew there would be no answer. Goro sees Dr. Kiyoshi picking up the plate, and without looking up, hands it to Goro.

“You know I hate desserts.”

“Just because you hate desserts doesn’t mean you don’t eat them. I have seen your blog after all. Just pretend you got it from a bakery. Your fans will eat it up.”

Goro rolls his eyes and scoff. Of course Dr. Kiyoshi would bring up the food blog. Goro begrudgingly sits down, and picks up the fork. “True. But they would know the difference between a bakery cake and homemade cake. I guess I have no choice but to eat it then.”

Taking a bite from the sugary, moist cake almost felt good. Sonozaki could have been a baker in another life. Goro stares at the doctor, and sees the adult finally took a bite from the cake. As Dr. Kiyoshi decided to take another bite, it must have meant he likes it as well.

The two sit there in silence, Goro filling his stomach with what seem to be his first proper meal in months. As stated before, like many of the conspiracy members, Sonozaki has no idea who their Black Mask associate’s identity is.

Dr. Kiyoshi is sole exception to the rule.

* * *

Even though Shido is older than Sokichi Sonozaki by almost fifteen years, Sonozaki tends to get mistaken to be the same age as Shido himself. His head has more white hairs than black, and Sonozaki’s ever so slowly growing beard and somewhat large figure added a few years (this is why Shido shaves and has a rigid work out).

However, Shido can tell that Sonozaki is a man with a mission. While around since 1970, the Sonozaki Group only became a rising competitor and threat to many. While there were some minor setbacks, Sonozaki pushed forward, claiming it was for the new world, one he desperately wanted to be part of, and one he wanted to help give birth to, no matter the cost.

Maybe that’s why Sonozaki is willing to work with Shido.

A little after Sonozaki became a financial backer, he also offered the BioTech Lab, which Shido eagerly accepted. It serves multiple purposes, the main one being the study of Wakaba Isshiki’s Cognitive research…with deadly results Sonozaki turns a blind eye at times.

Yes, Shido finds Sonozaki to be great…if only Sonozaki could stop bitching about Kunikazu Okumura. Many people in their little group have some dislike towards one another, but they were able to grin and bear it, making the wise decision to talk about each other in secret, especially not to Shido. The problem with this is that A: Okumura and Sonozaki aren’t in the same line of business (Okumura Foods is just that; a food company), and B: Okumura does the exact same thing.

~~~

“I don’t understand how you can put up with that man, Shido-san,” says Okumura over the phone. The two were discussing Okumura’s donations, when Shido slipped up Sonozaki’s BioTech Lab and its workers.

“If you don’t mind me saying,” continued Okumura. “Sonozaki’s high ambition of the world and himself makes him-”

~~~

“-the type to not be trusted,” finishes Sonozaki over the phone, as Shido slipped up Okumura’s latest request for the Black Mask. “A man of Okumura’s background, work ethics, and desires-”

~~~

“-will certainly get in the way of your goal of Prime Minister.”

“Are you saying,” Shido asks, with great curiosity, “that he may be a threat to me in the future?”

“Who know? Sonozaki is willing to do whatever it takes. I wouldn’t be surprised if-”

~~~

“-he ended up using his daughter as stepping stone to achieve his goals. Okumura loves her, but sometimes love can be overpowered. Now, I know you don’t have a child, but to me-”

~~~

“-a child must be willing to help out the family -their parents- in their time of need!”

“I see,” answers Shido. “I’ll keep in mind of our conversation. I hope you have a good evening.”

As Shido hangs up the phone, the man could only give out a heavy sigh. “Not only do I have to deal with Akechi,” Shido mutters to himself, his tone full of anger, “I have to deal with a backstabber in my own circle. At least I know who to keep an eye on.”

* * *

Dr. Kiyoshi’s lab can be described as being, well, a lab. There are glass vials, glass containers, glass flasks, busen burners, a blow torch, hand tools, several scales of different sizes, several sinks, many stacks of paper filed and in chronological order, and of course, the old and busted prototype weapons made for Goro, lock behind glass (a gun is simply the tool to use).

Also in the lab are three icebox coolers, two suitcases, a hairbrush, stolen hotel shampoo, glasses cleaning kit, and a cot. It should be made obvious what those items meant.

Goro, who is currently sitting in Dr. Kiyoshi’s chair, throws a small rubber ball against the metal walls. Thanks to his wonderful aiming, Goro deliberately misses all the glass object and stacks of papers, hitting the small dent in the wall Goro made months before. Normally, Goro would be hanging out at the police department, be with Sae, or in some rare cases, at Café Leblanc, wondering if the Phantom Thieves leader would show up and talk to him.

(Goro knows that the seemingly meek yet fascinating student is the leader, and that his small group of friends is members as well. He even has proof to show it to them.)

But in time of great duress, with Shido pushing for a certain breakdown or mental shutdown date that must happen, even though Goro made it perfectly clear they’ll happen when it happens, the teenager visits Dr. Kiyoshi at the lab.

Now, Goro isn’t the type to pour out his complaints, or cry out his frustrations onto a person. He may be capable of it, and once in awhile someone will ask about his day. However, no one will never fully understand. And Dr. Kiyoshi isn’t the type to ask about one’s day.

This is precisely why Goro likes to visit Dr. Kiyoshi. In the two years they know each other, Dr. Kiyoshi never showed an ounce of emotion. The doctor’s facial expression is stoic as a statue, and his voice is bland –never robotic- **bland**. The dent Goro made? When Dr. Kiyoshi saw it, he made no complaints, or asked Goro to leave and never return. All he did is pulled out a small ice pack and handed it to Goro, telling him, “That’s your dominant hand, after all.”

The way Dr. Kiyoshi lives and acts, Goro is convinced Dr. Kiyoshi isn’t human at all. Maybe that’s why Shido introduced Goro to him. There’s no way Dr. Kiyoshi is going to tell anyone about a teenage assassin.

Without realizing it, the rubber ball nearly flew over Goro’s head. Thanks to great reflexes, Goro manage to catch it in time. Too bad Goro fail to realize the chair is on the verge of falling over.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Goro tries to grab onto the nearest object, the table, but-

_**THUMP!** _

Goro lies there on the cold metal floor for a good solid minute, up until he hears the familiar footstep of Dr. Kiyoshi re-enter the room. Goro quickly scrambles to stand up, putting the chair back in its proper place. And just in the nick of time, thought Goro, as Dr. Kiyoshi walks in with plate of beef cutlet, re-heated from the microwave located in the lab’s break room.

Dr. Kiyoshi suddenly looks down at the floor. Goro looks down as well to see he had drop rubber ball, and it’s now rolling across the floor ( _Shit_ , thought Goro), rolling all the way to the janitor closest door. The man then looks back up at Goro. In silence, the man pulled out the spare chair that was right next to his chair. Then, Dr. Kiyoshi places the plate down on the table, and walks all the way towards one of the coolers, and pulls out a plastic plate, along with a few plastic forks and knives.

Then Dr. Kiyoshi makes his way back to the table, placing a few pieces of the meat onto the plastic plate. Goro turns his face upward, away from the beef cutlet. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, then you can forget it, especially if President Sonozaki made them.”

“President Sonozaki only does this when it he hears wonderful news,” answers Dr. Kiyoshi, as he plops a piece into his mouth. After he finishes chewing, the man continues. “No one is allowed to say no anyway.”

Dr. Kiyoshi then turns his head towards Goro. “You also know how he feels about leftovers.”

Goro gives out a loud grunt of disgust, and begrudgingly sits down on the spare chair. Picking up the fork, Goro has to ask. “Why don’t you give them to someone else that isn’t me?”

“Because you’re usually here.”

 _That didn’t really answer my question_ , thought Goro, as he took a piece of the meat and eats it. Despite being re-heated, he must admit the meat is savory and full of flavor. Maybe Sonozaki could have been a chef in another life.

The two sit there in silence, Goro filling his stomach with what seem to be his first proper meal in months. Goro couldn’t help but notice that Dr. Kiyoshi is eating slower this time around. Whether or not the man was too busy thinking about is irrelevant, for Goro, has too much on his mind as well. Goro is simply too preoccupy with dealing with the newest target. Shido knew that this day would be coming, and had forewarned Goro to be prepared when the day came. What honestly took Goro was surprised was _who_ the target is.

Though in hindsight, Goro should have seen it coming. The man, for the last couple of months had simply gotten in the way of things, for both Shido and himself. He probably thought he was being sneaky, but a member of the conspiracy broke the unspoken rule of complaining about their associate to Shido.

After Goro finishes his meal, he places the plate onto the table, leaves.

It really is just another typical day.

* * *

“I told you Shido, that Okumura-san was not to be trust! Pre- or post- change of heart, Okumura is the weakest link!” Sonozaki’s booming voice hurts Shido’s ears, but the politician will make no complaint about it. Everything the other man said was true.

Akechi successfully murdered Okumura’s Shadow, and all of Japan witnessed live. Okumura’s death is truly a situation where the old saying, ‘kill two birds with one stone’ is fitting. Not only did Shido got rid of the backstabber (Okumura knew how important being Prime Minister meant to Shido), but it was one step closer on getting rid of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

It was another step closer to Akechi’s final days. Shido couldn’t help but smirk. Everything is going just as plan. “If we’re lucky, Okumura’s frail health will be taken as the cause of death.”

“I truly hope so,” replies Sonozaki, his booming voice suddenly turning low. “Still, as much as I despise Okumura, I can’t help but worry about his daughter’s future. He did force an engagement to Sugimura’s boy. I hope that she can get out of it with his death.”

“That honestly isn’t our concern,” answers Shido. The Sugimura family -especially Sugimura’s boy- isn’t much of threat to Shido’s goal. Well, not as much of a threat that needs to be taken care of by Akechi. _Still…_ “Why are you so concern with Okumura’s daughter?”

There's long pause on the other line, then a sigh. “If I was Okumura and if I needed to backstab you to enter the political world –keep in mind this is a hypothetical situation- I would make sure to exclude my daughter from doing anything she potentially didn’t want to do.”

Shido nearly dropped his phone into his glass of scotch. Shido honestly thought Sonozaki would have just gloated, not bring up…this. This has gotten his full attention. “You have a daughter?”

“Yes, I do. She’s the same age as Okumura’s daughter in fact.”

Shido’s eyes widen with surprise. “How come you never brought her up? How come I never even heard of her, let alone any word of your family? I thought-”

“You knew everything about me? That’s where you’re wrong.” Shido could hear the man shifting in his seat, and heard him walking. Normally, Shido would end any phone call that became personal within a minute, and Shido could sense that Sonozaki was going to end the call any second now, knowing the rule well.

“But **what** exactly happened?” Shido places a strong emphasis on the what.

There was another pause. “Better for me to tell you now than you digging it up later. Her mother and I were young and stupid, both of us twenty, when she got pregnant.”

“How did your father learn?”

“Who knows? I never asked him. One thing for sure, my father was angry.”

Shido quickly straighten up. “Of course he would! A child was getting in the way of your future! From his point of view, it’s like you didn’t want to be the successor of the Sonozaki Group!”

“That’s because I didn’t **want** to be the successor of the Sonozaki Group.”

Another paused, this time on Shido’s end. _This doesn’t make any sense_ , thought Shido.

Sonozaki is a ruthless man, willing to let lives get destroy. No, Sonozaki is willing to destroy families to get what he wanted, for the sake of his vision of a new world. He never held responsibility for the lives lost on the experiments, never admitted his guilt. Never, from the media appearances, to press conferences, anywhere, did Sonozaki show any care for no one but himself and his associates.

While he and Shido certainly are not friends, they are alike in so many ways. Their goals, while different, crossed paths. They cross paths enough for the two to go hand and hand. Yet here they are now. Sonozaki, despite basically being the one to order Okumura’s death all those years ago, is worried about Okumura’s daughter.

Because Sonozaki is reminded of his own daughter. His own _bastard_ daughter.

Shido’s voice was shaking as he asks the next question. He wasn’t sure why, it just is. “How did- how did your father get you to change your mind?”

“He didn’t change my mind,” answers Sonozaki, almost bitterly. “He changed **her** mind. She left me in the middle of the night, without even a letter of goodbye. I don’t know how he did it, but the next time I saw her, she was happily married to someone else, with our daughter.”

“…Is she still married now?”

“Well, she has two kids with him, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I see. So that means,” continues Shido, thinking back to their conversion long ago, “when you brought up Okumura potentially backstabbing me…”

“Oh, it was a fair _warning_!” Sonozaki’s voice is once again loud and booming, as if the entire last several minutes never happened. “Okumura just happened to push a few personal buttons, that’s all. A man like him should never have children! What’s the point of having a child if you are going to destroy them in the end? Hm, maybe you’re the wrong person to ask.”

“Indeed, I am the wrong person to ask. Well, goodbye, Sonozaki. Have a good night.”

As Shido ended the call, he couldn’t help but think about Akechi. While Akechi may not have his mother, Akechi could have been contempt with not knowing his father. He may be miserable, but things could have turn out for the better.

Akechi could have been a happy normal teenager. He could have gotten friends, and be a regular teenager. He could have gone the movies, and panic over tests and exams without worrying about other things. He could have joined a school club, and become president of it. He could graduate at the top of his class, and live the rest of his life normally, maybe even staring a family of his own in the future. Akechi could have it all.

And the dumb child wasted it all on revenge. Shido scoffs, and stood up from his seat, deciding to stare out the window. Akechi really gave up a normal life for all something that will never happen. Akech honest to God thought that when that day came, when Akechi gets his justice, his _vengeance_ , everything is going to fine.

Akechi really thinks his ‘happy’ ending of Shido ending up in Justice’s hand is going to be that simple. Shido couldn’t help out but laugh. There’s no one around to hear it, but that was all the better. Shido wouldn’t be able to explain what was so funny.

Whether Shido likes or not, Akechi shares the same blood as him. Like Shido, Akechi is a killer through and through. Nothing is going to change that. Nobody in the world is going to know that. Shido wants to keep that that way, no matter what.

But for now, it’s time for everything to fall into its place.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joker is a Major Important Character that warrants a change of Archive Warning.

Shido realized his calling to politics when he won a heated debate with a politician visiting his high school. That didn’t mean Shido stays within the world of politics and political science. He drabbles in different fields, like psychology, psychiatry, and sociology, just to name a few. Cognitive science was something he only recently took a liking to, thanks to Wakaba Isshiki’s cognitive psience’s research. It was difficult to attain it until Akechi came along.

Akechi is truly a blessing from God. It was as if Shido’s prayers were answered, after years of waiting and trials. However, sometimes a blessing can also be a curse. He read somewhere –who doesn’t know who exactly said it- that Murphy’s Law is a form of the Second Law of Thermodynamic. It sounds like nonsense and utterly fake, but at least Murphy’s Law can be brought up outside a lesson taught from school.

Shido is quiet aware how things can potentially go wrong. Akechi could try to get revenge on Shido the good old fashion. Akechi could use his abilities to kill him, and the public would be none the wiser. The media will twist it into a health related death. It’s the easiest way to do things, and certainly the quickest.

Now, Shido likes to play long game. He gets dirt on his allies, rivals, and enemies. He waits for the perfect opportunity strikes. When the winner is about to be decided, Shido strikes from the shadow and pulls out his trump card, making himself the new winner. Akechi could be doing just that, keeping meticulous details of everything. Every order hit, every meeting, anything that can connect Shido to Akechi. Akechi even has the greatest trump card of all. All one needs to do to see it is order a DNA test.

That’s why Shido is making sure nothing will go wrong. He’s covering all of his bases. He needs to make sure Akechi has no idea what Shido has in store for him.

Shido already figured out how to take down Akechi if he does it the good old fashion way. Akechi’s death would set up in a way that not only would it be link to Shido, but the cleaner himself. No one would be able to suspect Shido and the cleaner’s ties to one another. And if this plan doesn’t pan out, Shido would still pay for all the other favors.

This second plan however, proved to be a pain in the ass. Some were too young, some were too old. Some has the right blood type, but weren’t physically right. Some were physically right, but lack the right bloody type. When Shido thinks he found the perfect candidate, he realized they would abandon Akechi within days of executing the plan, even though the point of this one is to keep an eye on the brat!

The biggest problem is that Shido doesn’t trust anyone with his secret. Many know of the assassin. Only a handful knows his identity and powers. For this, everything has to be out in the open. Shido has to make sure the person he chooses will take Shido’s secret to the grave. But after nights of fruitless results, Shido wonders if this plan is even worth pursuing at all.

***

_Do you want to know a secret? You promise not to tell?_

_… Oh, what’s the point of telling you I can’t tell you? You’re not here after all. I’m just talking to myself in a prison cell. This is **my** punishment. This is the consequences **I** have to face, what my team has to face. They’re all going to be in trouble and danger, and it’s all because of me. It’s not to say the blame lies on him, but we - especially me- unwillingly helped out. _

_We all thought we could stop him. We all thought that we could figure out the traitor and whoever he’s working for. I thought I could finally figure out the strange, overly polite enigma that is Goro Akechi. Someone, who despite everything, I have a bond with._

_Had. Had a bond with. I’m dead after all._

_We all agree to this dumb plan. We were risking everything -risking my **life** \- like it was a simple game. We thought we were smarter than them, whoever them is. There was no way anything or anyone from the outside could put a dent into our group’s plan. There was no way Akechi’s could figure out we even have a plan against him. _

_To think that it was **me** who put the dent in our plan. _

_It’s funny, really. I remember reading somewhere online about Murphy’s Law. It states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong._

_There should an additional note to go along with it: “Usually at the worst time.”_

***

Everything leading up to the interrogation room felt easy. No, easy isn’t right. Sae walked past by him without any second thought. The guard didn’t think anything out of the ordinary. The ringing, the sight of the blood…Everything leading up to the interrogation room felt **wrong**.

Goro thought everything would play out differently. Goro thought there was some trick they were supposed to play on him, one Goro would only learn later in the future. Goro thought Joker was smarter than this. Whenever Joker talked, he never said the wrong words, yet he always made comments that Goro could never comprehend without thinking them over twice. Joker was someone Goro found fascinating. Joker was a person that couldn’t ignore.

In another life, Goro know the two would have been great rivals…maybe even friends. He knows for a fact fate meant for them to cross paths…it just wasn’t supposed to be like this.

But there was no need to dream of another life. This is reality, and the reality is Goro Akechi killed the leader of the Phantom Thieves. With Joker’s death, Goro is one step closer to justice. He just has to keep playing the role a bit longer. Goro kept it up for the last two and a half years; he can do it just a bit more. There’s only one month left to go, maybe even less.

Goro looks around at his surroundings. He is truly alone. Guess it’s time to call Shido…

As Goro waits for the terrible man to pick up, Goro once again has to tell himself everything he did, is worth it in the end. Believe it or not, Goro hates his actions so far. He created so much misery and death to strangers. He caused trouble for all of Japan, and there was no way to take it back. There was no way to wipe away the pain not just to others, but to himself as well.

Goro doesn’t like to admit it, but he found small moments of joy with the Phantom Thieves. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the way they were all carefree. Maybe it was because they were comfortable with being themselves around each other.

Maybe it was because they were all friends with Joker. Joker had that affect on people, bringing what seems to be the best out of them. For the last two and half years, Goro forgotten what’s it is like to act like a teenager, how to be a teenager. The time spend with the Phantom Thieves, the time spend with Joker…

They were moments of happiness Goro never experienced in quite a while. Yet Goro knows they weren’t enough though to stop from everything. Everything Goro did has to be worth it in the end. Everything has to be worth it, when Shido finally gets what he deserves.

 _Ah, he has perfect timing_. “Shido-san, my job is complete.”

“I told you not to call me by name! Regardless, all that’s left is to deal with the remnants.”

* * *

Unfortunately, Goro couldn’t deal with the remnants that are the Phantom Thieves so easily. In the beginning, it started out like that. Sae Niijima told the new proxy SIU director that Joker was so out of it, he couldn’t deny or confirm who his partners in crimes were. Due to the proxy SIU director working under Shido, the search warrant ordered beforehand became void, and new ones needed to be issue.

Of course, this is just an excuse to make sure Goro could deal with them properly.

The issue that caused Goro’s newest problem is that the Phantom Thieves broke up. Goro couldn’t figure out what happened, but Goro saw three of the former members leave in a silent fury from Café Leblanc, never looking back. While he saw Morgana and the other three hanging around, Goro left them all alone. They weren’t worth his time anymore.

When Goro told the news to Shido, the man still ordered him to carry out their plan regardless, to make sure they won’t reconcile. Goro will do as he is told, but frankly, he’ll wait for the right moment to strike. There’s no way they could function as a team without their leader. He was the reason they were even together, and his death gave them all the reason to end things.

They may be friends with Joker, but from Goro saw, it was clear they weren’t friends with each other. Thinking about to their past interactions with each other, something felt off. Sure, Goro saw with his own two eyes they worked well together, that they all get along. It’s just that calling them friends would be wrong. Or maybe they are friends, and Goro has no idea what’s he thinking. Goro hasn’t have a friend since-

“Do I dare ask what is going through your mind?”

“Hm?” Goro looks up from the spare chair in the lab, hand resting underneath his chin. Dr. Kiyoshi stood in front of him. In both of his hands is home-brew coffee. Well, actually, they were lab-brew coffee, and both were in glass beakers. Both glass beakers were filled to the brim with a strange black liquid that is still smoking at the top. Goro knows that it's his pissed poor attempts of coffee.

For some unknown reason, Dr. Kiyoshi took up the habit of brewing coffee. The man said he was trying to make one cup of coffee he had years ago. When Goro was offered a test tube trial last week, Goro poured his –and Dr. Kiyoshi’s- down the drain, leaving a black stain in the sink.

“Please don’t say one of them is for me,” says Goro, resting his hand onto the table.

Dr. Kiyoshi looks down at the two beakers, then back at Goro, handing Goro the one that is less smoky of the two. As the man sits down, Dr. Kiyoshi places his beaker onto the table. He then places his hands onto his lap, and folds them gently.

“For the last week, you have been doing overtime for Shido. Not only that, you haven’t visited that quaint little café since **his** death. I thought-”

“Whatever you thought, you thought wrong! I told you before I’m fine without Café Leblanc coffee!” Goro’s mouth twists into a snarl, and he picks up the beaker. “In fact, I can do fine without coffee in general. It’s not like I need it to live. It’s not water!”

Goro stares at the files of notebooks at the end of the table. They were full of dates and data that were transferred to Dr. Kiyoshi’s laptop, and not to mention in backup notebooks located elsewhere. Goro took another glance at the man, and pours the ‘coffee’ all over them.

Goro smiles as he saw Dr. Kiyoshi’s mouth suddenly twitches at the corner. Finally, after all two years knowing each other, the man finally shows a sign of being human. Goro thought of Dr. Kiyoshi as someone he can avoid pouring his heart out, but there wasn’t any sign of how Dr. Kiyoshi thought of Goro. Goro thought the man would finally say it.

And all of it got swept away when Dr. Kiyoshi picks up his ‘coffee’ and hands it to Goro. The man kindly pushes Goro aside so he could pick up the wet and soggy paper to throw them away. When that was done, the man went back to his seat to sit down again.

“I do insist,” says Dr. Kiyoshi, pushing up the bridge of his glasses, “that you drink it.”

Goro gives a low chuckle, and stares at the beaker in his hand. Goro narrows his eyes at the doctor, and in one fast gulp, Goro drank the burning hot liquid until there was nothing left. The teenager slams the beaker onto the floor, shattering it onto tiny pieces, and wipes his mouth with his glove. Without saying another word, Goro picks up his briefcase, and storms out. Goro didn’t want to admit it, but the coffee is pretty decent. It isn’t the same favor he drank at Café Leblanc, but it’s almost close, eerily close in fact.

 _I’ll never understand that man_ , thought Goro, as he walks out the parking out with all the grace and calm in the world.

* * *

Goro couldn’t help but go back to visit the lab the following week. It’s December 8th, and the teenager just finished his rather short surveillance of the former Phantom Thieves, thanks to a splitting headache and drowsiness. They still haven’t reconciled, and Morgana suddenly decided run away to parts elsewhere. While everyone in Tokyo is finally getting to the spirits of the holiday, Goro realize there were more important things on his mind.

Goro wants to see if Dr. Kiyoshi finally decided to put damn locks to keep Goro out. He wants to see if Dr. Kiyoshi, upon seeing Goro forcing his way in, would yell at him and order him to leave and never come back. Goro wants to see if Dr. Kiyoshi was finally pushed to his limits, and would do the right thing and end all ties.

It’s better for Goro to have no relationships when he finally takes down Shido on the 18th. If Shido is going down, everyone is going down. Everyone is responsible in some way or form, and they weren’t going to get away scot free.

The first thing Goro notice is that there were no locks. Goro ran his fingers through his hair. It’s possible Dr. Kiyoshi didn’t have time to buy locks, or at least haven’t the time to put them on the door. Gripping onto the handle, Goro took in a deep breath in. _Well, here I go_.

Goro slams open the door to find Dr. Kiyoshi sitting at his desk, back turn away. Resting on a paper plate is pizza slices topped with peppers, olives, and mushrooms. The crust was dark brown, and looks almost rustic. And by rustic, the pizza looks absolutely terrible, like it was homemade and over bake by an inexperience baker.

“Welcome back,” greats Dr. Kiyoshi, his voice still bland as ever. He spins his chair towards Goro, and gestures his hand towards the spare chair.

“Are. You. Kidding. ME.”

Goro slams the door shut, the sound still echoing in the room. Goro gives the man a glare, and stomps his way towards the man, making sure his footsteps were annoying as possible. Taking a seat down, Goro steals a slice off Dr. Kiyoshi’s plate, and took a huge bite out of burned and somehow, under baked pizza.

“Do I want to know the details?” Goro didn’t care if he’s talking with his mouth. The pizza, despite its awfulness, is surprisingly delicious.

“Please don’t talk with your month full.” Dr. Kiyoshi slowly pushes the plate towards Goro, and pulls out a folded clean napkin from his jacket pocket, placing it next to the plate.

~~~

Normally, Goro likes Sundays. Sunday is the day he finally gets a day off. On Sunday, Goro isn’t the Detective Prince. Goro isn’t the right hand man to Shido. Goro is just Goro, a teenager who has no idea what he’ll do. Usually that leads to Goro becoming of the two things he normally does.

Today however, Goro knew what he wanted to do. Trying his best to ignore the headache, Goro decides he’s going to clean up his messy apartment. It’s been a mess for almost the past year. Sure, Goro gave a brief wipe down of the counter, and pick up a few bottles of water and very old coffee cans, but he never did a 100% clean.

Goro barely got out the broom and pan from his room when his cellphone rang from his school pants. Goro curses, and digs his phone out. The caller is Shido. Of course Shido would do this. It’s only seven days until the elections were in the bag, but Shido wants to be certain that no one will do anything to his Shadow.

By no one, Shido meant the Phantom Thieves. Goro is still convinced the group is still in shambles. Still, who knows if one of the members figured it all out and tried to do it solo?

Unfortunately, the headache got worse when reaching the engine room. Goro decided to leave the second he got back to the representative chamber doors. The drowsiness also decided to make a return. To top it off, Goro forgot to buy aspirin when shopping, and he didn’t want to run into anybody, be it a fan, or a former Phantom Thieves who might take it into their own hands for revenge on their dear departed leader. So, Goro thought of the best next thing: the lab.

“Dr. Kiyoshi? Are you here?” Goro slowly cracks open the door a few, and sticks in head in. There’s no sign of the doctor at all. The teenager opens the door wider, and enters. Maybe toady is Dr. Kiyoshi’s day off as well. After all, Goro only visits the man on school days.

“Since he isn’t here,” says Goro to himself, smiling at the three coolers, “I should help myself.”

Cooler one is just fill with paper plates, plastic cutlery, and one broken mug that’s missing its handle. Cooler two has nothing in it, just many bags of ice and ice packs keeping pasta salad inside a glass container cold, alongside a few water bottles. Cooler number three is filled with empty containers, glass or plastic. It also has a few pill bottles, some cough drops, bottles of flu medicine, and what looks like an unopened bottle of red wine.

Goro took the half empty bottle of aspirin, water bottle, and pasta salad.

~~~

Goro lies down on his stomach, and covers his head with a pillow. Of course he would get sick when least expecting. Yesterday on the 13th, Goro asked Dr. Kiyoshi what one would do if they have two day expired meats and cheese in the fridge, alongside an opened but not drink bottle of juice given as gift from all the work he done. The man’s words were simple: throw them both away. Goro, of course, ate and drank them anyway: he really was that hungry and thirsty.

When Goro woke up suddenly in the middle of the night due to thirstiness and the first stomach cramp, Goro found it very hard to drink water, resulting in him spitting it all out. When Goro woke up to eat his breakfast of plain toast, there was a strange aftertaste left in his mouth.

Worse, the headaches and drowsiness came back as well. Goro thought he could ignore them, to go on with his regular day. When Goro tried to get dress, when trying to button up his shirt, Goro collapsed onto the floor, bringing down the lamp and cell phone onto the floor.

Realizing things were worse than Goro thought, he called Dr. Kiyoshi. Goro knows the man’s title of doctor isn’t related to medicine. However, there is no way Goro could make it through a flu and food poisoning without needing help. Goro wonder if Dr. Kiyoshi would even show up. Truth to be told, Goro barely said a word, only getting out an agonizing groan before hearing the sounds of beeps on the other line.

Well, at least he managed to call his school to notify them of his absent. Goro then dragged himself back to bed, wrapping the blanket tight around his body. Goro is sweating terrible underneath them, but he wants to avoid the cold. Frankly, Goro didn’t want to move at all. He wanted to stay in his warm bed, trying to get some sleep despite the cramps and muscle aching.

If Dr. Kiyoshi actually shows up, then well, he just had to break down the door. Goro wasn’t going to get out of bed. In fact, Goro doubt he’s going to get out of bed. The call to Dr. Kiyoshi happened at six, and now it’s almost noon. The man is probably busy with work at the lab, or got bombarded with President Sonozaki’s latest food creation after learning great news.

Goro gives out a groan, and turns back over onto his back. He removes the pillow off his face to see Dr. Kiyoshi standing in front of bedroom door, with a plastic bag in hand. Despite having great aim, Goro’s frail strength resulted in throwing the pillow towards the man’s shoes. Dr. Kiyoshi looks down to the ground, and looks back up to Goro’s line of direction.

“This is what happens when you don’t heed my advice,” states Dr. Kiyoshi, as he walks toward Goro’s bed. The man sits next to Goro, and pulls out an extra large hooded jacket, a black cap, a packet of colorful hair ties, a surgical mask, and oversize winged sunglasses.

“How did you even get into my apartment!?”

“If I told you once, I told you thirty-five times before,” interrupts Dr. Kiyoshi, covering his nostrils with a hand, as if he smells something gross, “Never lose your spare key in the lab.”

~~~

Goro holds his stomach sides after leaving the bathroom. The cramps are acting up again, and his legs are starting to fail on him. Frankly, the sooner Goro gets back to the mattress, Goro could go back to sleeping. He didn’t want to think about the details about the bathroom…

“Damn flu. Damn food poisoning,” mutters Goro, before entering a coughing fit, using the napkin Dr. Kiyoshi gave to him before making another shopping trip.

Goro barely made it past the janitor closet door when he got the urge to puke. Using the best of strength, Goro made it to the Vomit Bucket –a regular trashcan with plastic bags and old outdated paper files- and pukes until he was done. Goro wipes his mouth with the napkin, and throws it away.

After arriving to the lab, Dr. Kiyoshi forced Goro to drink down some water, some crackers, and cheese. It resulted in the man’s clothes getting spit on. However, no complaints were made, only words of concerns about Goro’s flu being worse than the two thought. Goro thought he would see crackers remains, but Goro sees his stomach contents resemble chocolate cake, granted, it was more red than brown. Maybe it’s chocolate cake with those ridiculous cherries drench in red sugary syrup. Goro isn’t fan of chocolate. It’s either too bitter or too sweet.

 _Wait, what was I thinking about before?_ Goro grips the top of the trashcan. His legs felt like jelly. Goro knows he should go back to bed. He wanted to sleep for the rest day, without anyone waking him up. Goro slowly lets go of the trashcan to see that his legs are still standing. It took awhile, but Goro manage to make it back to bed, and flops down onto it.

Goro then gives out a painful groan, and sits up straight. His stomach really is acting up now. Goro felt his throat burning, and felt something trickling down his nose. Goro grabs a tissue from the tissue box, and wipes his nose only to find nothing. Goro sighs, and turns to the almost empty water bottle lying next to the mattress. He picks it up, and drinks the last few ounces of water.

Or rather, he tries to drink the last few ounces of water. Goro nearly sputter out half of it onto the metal floor. Goro clicks his tongue, and tries to throw the bottle into the trash can. He misses completely, as it lands right near the janitor closet door.

“Urg…Dr. Kiyoshi, where are you?” Goro rest his head onto his head, and closes his eyes shut. Goro could feel himself sweating again, and felt his clothes were getting wet. What’s taking the man so long?

“Akechi, what did I say about getting some rest?”

Goro opens his eyes and turn his head towards the door. Dr. Kiyoshi is briskly walking towards him, carrying two bags full of things Goro couldn’t care less about. Something must have happened, because Dr. Kiyoshi looks a bit of a mess. His combed slick back bangs were starting to form. His normally button up jacket is unbuttoned, with only the third button being button up at all. _Oh, that’s a lot of buttons_ , thought Goro, giving himself a small smile.

Dr. Kiyoshi makes it to the mattress, and sits down next to Goro, putting both bags aside. The doctor narrows his eyes, and pulls out a handkerchief from his back pocket. Goro closes his eyes as the man wipes away the beads of sweat on Goro’s face. After that, Dr. Kiyoshi grabs one of the bags, and pulls out a water bottle. He twists the top open, and hands it to Goro.

Goro tries to drink down the water –why was it so difficult to drink simple water- only to spit some of it out onto the floor. Goro heard Dr. Kiyoshi give out a sigh, and before Goro knew it, he was push back onto the bed, with several layers of blankets. Dr. Kiyoshi stood up, and went back to his chair, and starts to read a magazine.

As Goro clutches the top of the blankets, his mind wander backs to the last time he was taken care of by an adult. It must have been ages ago, back when he was an elementary school kid. It was winter, and his mom was freaking out. She was panicking and had to call someone on the phone. Goro wasn’t sure who she called, but he remembers he missed a few days of school. It felt nice to spend time with his mom. It made him all warm and tingly on the inside.

Goro thought he would never experience it again. It felt foreign. Many things became foreign in Goro’s live. Having an adult that can take of him became foreign when Mother died. Having a regular teenage life full of regular teenage things became foreign when he enacted his plan onto Shido. Having someone he cares for became foreign when he ‘betrayed’ the Phantom Thieves, when killing Joker in cold blood.

So many things were foreign to Goro, and it’s all because everything became wrong in his life the second Shido left him and Mother. Everything that went wrong in his life is all due to Shido. There’s no way Goro wasn’t going let some silly flu and bad food get in the way of everything. He has to get better, he just has too. Isn’t there any way this can past by sooner?

Goro stares at the preoccupied Dr. Kiyoshi. For the last two years of knowing each other, Goro saw him as inhuman, being something otherworldly. He’s stoic as a statue, with a voice that’s bland as it can be. Is it possible Goro thought wrong? If there’s even a small chance…

“Hey…Doctor…”

Dr. Koyoshi lifts up his head, and gently closes the magazine. He got out of his chair, and sits back onto the mattress right by Goro’s side. It may have been the lighting, but the man’s expression looks…worrisome. Goro wonders what might have caused it.

“Yes?”

Goro’s mouth his open, but he couldn’t find the words he was searching for.

* * *

Goro slowly opens his eyes and groans. Every part of his body still aches, every cramp is still painful. Goro uses his arms as support in an attempt to sit up straight. Everything still looks fuzzy and bright, but at least his sight is getting back to normal.

Goro can feel the sheets of the bed are soft, but thin. As he blinks again, Goro sees the walls are far too white, and way too clean. The lack of windows is also a great concern. In fact, based off the office chairs, Goro might actually be in an office that just recently turns into a makeshift hospital room. Confuse, Goro slowly turns his head to the left to see several IV bags attach to a pole. Goro looks down at his arms to see one of them has a tube inserted in, administering whatever medicine into his body.

_Where the hell am I?_

“Talk about walking in to a pleasant surprise!” It’s Dr. Kiyoshi voice, but it’s warm, and full of strange joy.

Goro moves his head up to see Dr. Kiyoshi standing at the doorway with a can of coffee. His formally slick back bangs were all down, and he is missing his glasses. His jacket buttons are still unbuttoned, except for the third one. Dr. Kiyoshi’s face is in a wide smile, almost from ear to ear. His eyes soften to where they look lively. Everything about the man’s appearance is like a statue that suddenly gained sentiment.

 _No…no way. I have to be hearing wrong._ Goro turns his head around to the side table. Resting there is a small open packet of napkins. He grabs the top napkin, and pulls it out. Wrapping it around his index finger, Goro cleans the inside of both of his ears.

“Why did you do that?” Dr. Kiyoshi walks towards Goro, the smile still on his damn face.

“Because I thought my hearing was wrong,” snaps Goro, glaring at the man.

“Oh! Okay then.” Dr. Kiyoshi bobs his head from side to side. Then, he opens up the can of coffee, and took a long sip out of it. “So you’re shock I’m speaking like a regular damn human being after all this time.”

After staring at the can, the Dr. Kiyoshi looks back at Goro. The smile got wipe away from Dr. Kiyoshi face, now replace with a straight thin line. The transformation back to a stoic statue is honestly remarkable. If Goro didn’t know the man, Goro would have thought they were two completely different people, twins at least.

“In that case,” says Dr. Kiyoshi, his voice back to the familiar bland tone lacking any emotion, “shall I go back to talking like this?”

Goro widen his eyes with surprise, taken back the man is truly asking for an opinion on this silly little debacle. “Do you want to go back to talking like that?”

“No.”

“Then why did you ask for my opinion!” Goro unwraps the napkin from his finger, and throws it towards Dr. Kiyoshi, hitting his jacket before falling onto the floor. “If you want to do it, then do it! I frankly don’t care if you want to be the stoic statue or the surprising friendly doctor!”

“Surprising friendly, huh?” Dr. Kiyoshi’s bland voice disappears right at the end. The man’s new smile isn’t wide as before, but still noticeably big. “I take it as you're referring my usual self.”

“Wha-”

Dr. Kiyoshi puts up his hand to silence Goro. Then, the man took another sip of his coffee, closing his eyes as he did so. It’s another long sip, and Goro sees he finishes the drink like a madman, placing the empty can next to the napkins. Did Dr. Kiyoshi not know the point of drinking coffee is to take your slow time in enjoying it? Did he not realize the whole point was to enjoy the favor, the warmth, everything that made coffee, well, coffee?

 _I must be missing **him** and his coffee if I’m complaining about how Dr. Kiyoshi drinks_, thought Goro, as he stares at the coffee can. _Actually, I don’t think I had coffee since the day Dr. Kiyoshi made his attempts for the two of us._

“Akechi? Are you still here?”

Goro glances sideways to see Dr. Kiyoshi burrowing his eyebrows. _Oh, right._

“I’m sorry. I guess I got lost in my little world of thoughts,” answers Goro honestly. “What do you mean by, your usual self?”

Dr. Kiyoshi gives out a small chuckle, shakes his head, and puts his hands into his jacket pockets. “Akechi, remember when we first met?”

“Yes. Shido-san made us meet at the Sonozaki BioTech Lab in the middle of the night. He wanted to make sure Sonozaki and everyone else was gone. I remember because Shido-san drove me there after calling me on my cell to change into something formal.”

“Throughout our conversation there, you and Shido referred to me as ‘Dr. Maki’. When you can to visit the lab alone the following school day, I said I prefer if you call me by my first name.”

“I didn’t want to though.” Goro rubs his chin briefly, thinking back to that day. “I found it too informal. So you said I could call you Dr. Kiyoshi. Are you saying-”

“That was a hint to my true nature?” Dr. Kiyoshi pulls out his right hand, and pats Goro’s shoulder. “In a way. I only go by Dr. Maki to people I have a professional relationship with. And you, Goro Akechi, are not one of those people.”

Dr. Kiyoshi removes his hand, and sighs. The smile is gone, replace with a frown. “Frankly, I’m not sure how to describe what we have. One thing is certain though: You’re going to staying here and recover while I figure everything out with Shido.”

Goro manage to sit up straight at hearing the man’s name. “Does Shido-san know where I am?”

“No. And for the time being, he won’t know where you are. Shido is preoccupied with important matters. It’s three days until the elections, and he’s making sure few of the most valuable players and him are still on good terms. I think you’re the last thing on Shido’s mind.”

“But…” - _Of course_ \- “But you need to tell him where I am! Shido-san ordered me to take care-”

“Will you stop talking about Shido for the moment and think about yourself?” Dr. Kiyoshi slams his hand onto the side table, knocking off the coffee can. “Akechi, I don’t think you understand the severity of your condition! You almost **died** in my lab, and it’s all thanks to-”

The man cuts himself off, and turns around. Dr. Kiyoshi gives out a loud sigh, and continues speaking. “It’s all thanks to President Sonozaki that you’re still alive at all. He came by the lab to bring one of his cakes, and he found us right on time.”

“Sonozaki!? Does that means he know-”

“…No.” Dr. Kiyoshi is still facing the opposite direction, rubbing the upper part of his arm. “President Sonozaki brought my excuse, and he thought the Detective Prince might be safe to be in an undisclosed location as he recovers. He didn’t want the media to find out.”

“I see.”

“And…I have been thinking things over.” Dr. Kiyoshi turns back around to face Goro. The frown is still on his face. “While you were asleep, I been thinking about my time at the Sonozaki Group, working with Shido…and life after Shido win the elections.”

The man gives out another chuckle, and uncrosses his arms. He grabs one of the office chairs, and pulls it closer to Goro’s bed. Dr. Kiyoshi sits down, his hands resting on his laps. “My mother –my ever so kind mother- been nagging me to settle down since my thirtieth birthday. She always comes by the lab on Sunday and drags me around Tokyo, trying to get me to ‘socialize’ with people my age.”

Dr. Kiyoshi lowers his head, and suddenly grabs Goro’s hand, clasping onto it tight. “When she finally realized she can’t jumpstart a relationship, she told me I could just skip that step and start a family regardless. I thought she was joking, but her glare told me otherwise.”

Goro stares down at Dr. Kiyoshi’s hand, blinking very fast in confusion. Why was the man being so affectionate with him? There were too many things to take in, to many questions to ask. Goro stares back towards Dr. Kiyoshi, staring him straight in the eye. “I don’t…what are you getting at here?”

“Akechi, what I’m trying to say is that-”

“Dr. Maki! We have a problem!” President Sonozaki runs right into the room, nearly slipping on the floor. His chest is moving up and down, and he’s out of breath. The man raises an eyebrow and briskly stands up straight, fixing his tie while doing do. “I’m sorry about interrupting what appears to be a private moment. But you-know-who has been calling my cellphone for the last five minutes. He wants to know why you aren’t at the lab.”

Dr. Kiyoshi’s mouth twitch, and the man lets go. Dr. Kiyoshi then gives out a huff, all while running his fingers through his bangs, trying his best to get them back to the way they were before. “Of course this has to happen now. Well, thank you, President Sonozaki.”

“I told him the two of us were in a meeting in regards to your future at the Sonozaki Group, since you’re feeling dissatisfy for the last two years. I’ll be there with you,” continues the old man, staring at Goro while doing so. “He’ll believe me when I tell him that I was trying to keep my most valuable employee from the joining the likes of others. That man doesn’t like it when I talk about my business. At least, business that doesn’t concerns him.”

Dr. Kiyoshi nods his head in agree as he stood up, buttoning up all the buttons of his jacket. He then leans in closer, to make sure President Sonozaki won’t hear a thing he says. “I’m sorry Akechi, for cutting our conversation short. You know how Shido is like when we don’t answer him in a timely manner.”

The man then reaches out his hand again, and pats Goro on the shoulder again. “Depending what Shido wants with me, it may be awhile before we see each other again. President Sonozaki has two people he trusts completely to watch and care for you. Just promise me you will not leave this place.”

Goro blinks fast, making sure he doesn’t show any signs of his tears. “I don’t think my mysterious condition isn’t going to get me to leave otherwise. Just promise me you’ll come back and explain everything, okay?”

“I promise. Well,” says Dr. Kiyoshi, removing his hand, speaking loud and clear. “Goodbye.”

Dr. Kiyoshi then walks to the door, and gives a final nod to Goro. President Sonzaki nods towards the door, and exits. Dr. Kiyoshi did the same. Hand on the doorknob, the man gives a wave of goodbye, closes the door shut.

“Goodbye…”

~~~

As an office room turned makeshift hospital room, there isn’t much to do. The fact Goro’s belongings weren’t anywhere in sight meant he couldn’t access his cellphone. Not only is Goro bored without the lack of Internet, the fact remains Goro is scared about the messages Shido left on his phone. Goro failed to call Shido on the 12th and 13th due to television appearances, and he never got to tell Shido about his ‘food poisoning’ and ‘flu’.

Taking Dr. Kiyoshi’s words as truth, counting today –the 15th-, Goro hasn’t been in contact with Shido in four days. No doubt Shido would be worrying over more important things than a teenage assassin. He has to make sure every one of his financial backers, supporters, everyone who played a role, who played stake in the elections won’t do anything now.

But shouldn’t Shido be wondering about him as well? Goro lies back down onto the bed, his head hitting the very soft pillow with a light ‘thump’. There’s no way Shido would forget about him now, not when the dawn of a new era is just beyond the horizon. Not when a dangling threat still hangs over his head.

Goro is important to Shido. That’s why Shido agree to even let Goro work with him in the first place, right?

~~~

A new day dawn, and another day has past. Goro looks at the door, wondering if anyone will enter in the dead of night. Thanks to Doctor Goto, Goro knows that in the early morning of the 16th, President Sonozaki got a call from someone who needed Dr. Kiyoshi right away. Doctor Goto didn’t say much after that. When Goro asked what he exactly has, Doctor Goto closes his eyes with a sigh.

“I’m sorry, but I do think it’ll be best to tell you when Maki-san and President Sonozaki come back. They know already, and I feel that if I tell you now you may not believe me. Just know that the medicine we're administrating will help.”

“Can you at least tell me if I’ll live?”

“That, I can do. You will live, but you may not be able to your life the same as before. However, I think you can resume your job as a detective, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Goro didn’t talk much after that. Nurse Hino (her nametag is on her scrubs) is a lovely quiet person herself. She gave Goro his meals –which were still usually hard to swallow- and check his vitals and replaced the IV bag when it was low. Other than Doctor Goto and Nurse Hino, Goro never saw anyone else.

Not even President Sonozaki. Goro knew the man was on the floor. The insulated walls couldn’t block his loud voice. Goro couldn’t hear much, other than the doctor ‘needs to step it up’.

Goro stares down at the coffee can on the floor, which had roll near the door. No one bother to pick it up. Or maybe someone did, but Dr. Kiyoshi drank a new can that he finished and left behind as litter when President Sonzaki told him that Shido needed him again.

~~~

December 17th. The last dawn. The last day. When tomorrow comes, Shido will be the new prime minister of Japan.

Tomorrow was going to be the day of reckoning. Tomorrow was supposed to be the day Goro was going to get justice done for himself and Mother. Tomorrow was supposed to be the day where everything Goro did -sacrificing his normal life, sacrificing his friends, sacrificing his soul- for the last two in the half years was supposed to be worth it.

“And I’m stuck here sick in bed! DAMN IT!”

Goro slams his hands onto the thin bed, and screams at the top of his lungs. Goro got no visitors until late in the evening. Doctor Goto arrived with apologies from Dr. Kiyoshi and President Sonozaki, but he but never a spoke after that. The man’s face is grim, as if he got terrible news. When Goro asked him what happened, there was no response.

Nurse Hino was the same as well. While silent as ever, Goro saw her hands shaking as she replaces the IV bag again. When Goro asked her what is keeping Doctor Goto quiet, she never replied, only giving him a small smile, as if it was something Goro shouldn’t be worried about.

Goro knows for a fact that the two weren’t members of the conspiracy. Yet something was troubling them. Did President Sonozaki tell them something that’s keeping them on their toes? Goro truly believes the man has no idea about Goro’s involvement as Black Mask. But was it possible President Sonozaki does however, know his connection to Shido? Does Dr. Kiyoshi know as well? It’s possible when getting Goro’s blood for testing, President Sonozaki tested it against Shido’s. Goro wouldn’t know how the man would have Shido’s blood, but it’s possible that-

 _No._ Goro gives out a scoff, and shakes his head at the notion. _If Shido doesn’t know himself, then no one else knows. That’s what makes it worth it._

Maybe the two know the truth about President Sonozaki’s –and Dr. Kiyoshi- involvement with Shido. Maybe they realize they’re now complicit in their president’s crimes, and they’re trying to keep Goro in the dark, thinking he doesn’t know anything, thinking that he’s innocent.

Or maybe…Did the Phantom Thieves made a suddenly reconciled within his time here? Did they send a calling card, one that got the attention of not only Shido, but everyone in Tokyo? It’s possible they found and explored Shido’s Palace, but Goro doubts they could explore it within a short time frame, alongside finding the Treasure. Exploring Sae’s Palace took two weeks, and based off Kamoshida, the first target, the shortest time they did was a week.

The idea that they did this all without Joker makes it more impossible to believe. Joker had an ability no one else has, making it easier to explore. Goro isn’t sure what the ability was, but it must have been one of kind, like Goro’s own powers with Loki. It’s not to say they could do it without Joker, but that would mean they had to do everything with great precaution. Shido’s Palace isn’t what Goro can call a walk in the park.

Goro sighs, and lies back down onto the bed. Maybe the Phantom Thieves did outsmart him. Maybe Joker miraculously faked his death, and used his time wisely to figure out the criminal mastermind. Maybe realizing Goro is out of commission, the Phantom Thieves decided to take on Shido, knowing well that there’s no one stopping them.

 _Frankly, I don’t know what might be the likely scenario._ Goro stares at the door for hours, playing with his hair. Then, he looks back down on the floor. The coffee can is still there, still near the door. Goro wonders if Dr. Kiyoshi ever intended to return. Seeing the can reminds Goro of the last time he saw Mother Goro was waiting for her to pick him up from school. When she didn’t show, Goro decided to walk home. It wasn’t too far; his mom likes to walk with him.

When Goro got home, he found the door close, but unlock. When he entered, everything was fine. A plate of food was on the table, with a glass of water next to it. After Goro ate and put the dishes in the sink, Goro went to Mother’s room. His mom slept a lot, as her health took a turn for the worth. However, Mother promised him that it would fine, that she’ll soon be free of it.

Goro covers his head with the pillow. He doesn’t like that memory, not one bit. That was the day everything went wrong in Goro’s life. That was the day that fueled Goro to do everything he did. Goro never removed the pillow off his face, and didn’t fall asleep. Goro only removes the pillow until the sounds of the rolling coffee can caught his attention.

* * *

“Shido-san, it’s such a lovely surprise to hear from you! Do you need to talk about finances?”

Shido uses the knuckle of his index finger to push the tragus inside his ear. Sonozaki’s booming voice is truly grating. However, Sonozaki’s busy life makes it almost impossible to garner a meeting in person. If this plan is going to work, Shido has to make sure Sonozaki’s offer still stands. “No. Do you recall about your services in regards to Wakaba Isshiki’s cognitive research?”

“Oh yes! I agreed with you that it would be wise to go with a more… _private option_.”

“I still intend of doing so. Everyone who shall be studying and researching it further will be chosen by mine hand. I want to be sure no one will do anything without my approval. However, there’s still a matter on what faculties will be use. I only realize now-”

“There is none you can use without gaining suspicions? Shido-san, don’t worry! The offer to the BioTech Lab still stands! I’ll make sure my own workers shall remain in the dark!”

Shido gives out a sigh of relief, and smiles. “That’s good. In that case, I would like one worker of yours I approve of to be part of separate project related to Isshiki’s research. Don’t worry about the details now. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

As Shido hangs up his phone, the man stood up, and stares out the window. Everything down below on the streets looks like ants waiting to be squash. Shido gives out a chuckle, and closes the blinds. Finally, Shido can get a good night sleep, knowing nothing will go wrong at all.


	3. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Character Tags were updated as such since it relates to the next chapter.

In his younger years, Kunikazu Okumura gained a fondness for science fiction. Maybe it came from lacking the one thing he desperately wanted, the thing his own father never gave him. Becoming and being an adult made Okumura to put way his toys. Okumura Foods and the avoidance of failure, Okumura’s goals of the political world, Haru’s future when she takes over Okumura Foods…

There are too many things to worry about in reality. But whenever no one is looking, Okumura goes into his office, and thinks about those long gone youthful days. He dreams of worlds far away, where reality isn’t recognizable.

Sometimes, Okumura reads about these worlds. One example is Asimov’s stories. While many stories took place on Earth, all were fascinating. Maybe it’s in due to the robots, the way the laws are played it within the stories to create drama and plot. The fact Asimov created laws for his own universe and were extremely thought help out.

Okumura knows that in reality, robots won’t follow the Three Laws of Robotics. It depends on the programmer, and the robot itself. Besides, the three laws only work in fiction. That doesn’t mean he can’t think about them, especially the First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

 _There’s no doubt if a human tries to follow anything similar_ , _they’ll fail_ , thought Okumura, as he leaves his office, going back to world that is.

* * *

As much as all of the Phantom Thieves wanted to put the sole blame on Akechi for their leader’s death, Haru secretly thought otherwise. Haru however, knows it’s best to not bring it up. Everyone is still in denial, and they would (reasonably) lash out at her. Haru won’t deny Akechi is killer. Technically, Akechi is a hired killer, merely following the orders of someone else. But Akechi made no regrets on his choices, hurting and killing so many innocence people.

Haru wanted to say her father is one of them, but Haru would be lying to herself. Her father is just as responsible for many terrible things, like Akechi and his superior. Father used Akechi to make Okumura Food rise, getting rid of all the competition. Father was willing to ruined people’s lives, and almost did it to Haru herself, for his own selfish dreams.

Still, Haru loved him. She remembers a time when her dad was innocent, free of sin. It wasn’t long before he became the man everyone knew today, but Haru remembers. Haru saw the return of that man, just for a brief moment, before it was stolen away. Haru wanted to get revenge for her father oh so much. She had to put up with Akechi’s façade for almost a month, maybe even less. Haru wanted to scream, pull her hair…Haru wanted to do _something_ , to show how she couldn’t handle it any longer.

The only reason Haru kept it up at all is due to their plan. Their plan to trick Goro in Sae’s Palace was supposed to make everyone’s time worthwhile. Their dumb plan to get Goro to reveal who he truly is was supposed to make everyone’s misery working alongside her father’s killer -Futaba’s mother killer as well- worth it. Their dumb, pathetic excuse of a plan that relied on their leader to remember one important detail that was supposed to be worth it all.

But it wasn’t. They really did overlook the fact Joker was a human being. They were so use to his amazing abilities in the Metaverse, they forgot Joker is just Joker there. Joker in the end, is a normal teenage boy, and susceptible to anything. Human beings can make mistakes. Forgetting things is just one mistake humans do constantly. But this time, it was deadly.

Haru knows Akechi is to blame for Joker’s death. But Haru knows that indirectly, through their blinded actions, she and the rest of the Phantom Thieves are to blame as well. 

* * *

Of course the backlash would split the Phantom Thieves into two different fractions.

Haru, Ann, and Yusuke left Café Leblanc, never looking back. The three of them could hear Sojiro Sakura calling out to them, telling the three teenagers to work things out with their friends. Haru hears the man’s voice growing fainter and fainter. Soon the three found themselves sitting the subway train, riding back to her home. Everyone is silent.

Haru knows why Ryuji, Futaba, and Makoto are upset with them, wanting to let the sole blame be Goro Akechi. They were so certain about the plan working, that there was no need for an alternative; they really did forget Joker could be the loose factor. Makoto in particular was opinionated; Joker was supposed to get Sae to collaborate with them, after all.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Ann is sitting between Haru and Yusuke. “School isn’t going to pretty. I overheard people speculating that we might be friends since the festival. If they get any wind of our falling out, or his long term absent…”

“Everyone’s mind is still on Joker’s death,” comments Yusuke, looking down at the floor. “I don’t think anyone at Shujin will take notice if he’s missing. I believe you said everyone still show disdain for him?”

“Yes, it’s true. They might think he’s finally living up to his criminal name and is ditching school. Since you go to Kosei,” adds in Haru, clutching her fist in a tight ball, “I think it might take a bit longer before the gossip and rumors about us start up again.”

More silence.

~~~

November soon turns into December, but festive and jolly moods couldn’t wipe away Haru’s fears and loneliness. The police have yet to arrest the rest of the former Phantom Thieves. Haru doesn’t know the reason why, but she hopes that Makoto’s sister might be pulling strings to keep them all out, if she was told of everyone’s identity. Family love can do so many things after all, especially if Makoto confronted her with the truth.

In regards to her loneliness, Yusuke and Ann met up at the new meeting place at her home. While the new separate group chat gave Haru some comfort, but it wasn’t just the same. Haru misses Ryuji, Makoto, and Futaba’s texts. Most off all, Haru misses their leader. He may speak the least in the chats, but Haru knows his absence is far too noticeable.

~~~

“What do you mean, Mona-chan is gone?”

Today is December 9th and Futaba called an emergency meeting at Café Leblanc. A mass text was out to everyone, including Ann, Yusuke and Haru. That’s how much of emergency it is.

Morgana didn’t take the news about Joker’s death well. He was crying and running around and nearly scratched everyone -including Sojiro- screaming, “He can’t be dead! He can’t be dead!”

Slowly but surely, his behavior changed. Morgana slept more and ate less. He stared at the wall for hours on end. He wasn’t doing anything cat like. He was too upset about Joker’s death to even think about picking a side during the fight. All he did was stay in their former leader’s room, lying down on the bed.

Sojiro and Futaba took care of him. Futaba told them all she tried talking to him, but Morgana was ignoring her every word, sitting perfectly still, without making movement. It was this afternoon did Futaba discovered Morgana was gone. Ryuji, Makoto, and Futaba were already there when Haru, Yusuke, and Ann burst through the door, Haru screaming the question.

“He’s just…gone.” Futaba turns her face towards the ground, and rubs her ram. “I went upstairs to change his water to find him missing from the bed. I think he’s been missing since yesterday afternoon. That was the last time I saw him.”

Ryuji didn’t say much; only slam his fist into the counter. “Damn it! This is our fault!”

Makoto solemnly nodded her head in agreement. “If we weren’t fighting among ourselves…if we actually paid attention to Morgana…”

“Morgana is the one who was living with Joker,” comments Ann, walking over to the others. “We should have realized he would be affected the most.”

“All of us were too focus on our own suffering and fighting, we didn’t think Morgana about him doing anything, especially this,” adds in Yusuke.

“But why would he run away?” Futaba continues to rub her arm as she takes a seat at one of the booths. “What could be so important for Mona to leave? Did he hate us for fighting? Did he want to get away and live like an actual cat? Why did he do it?”

The six teenagers ponder over their friend. Futaba made some excellent points. If Morgana hates them all for fighting, he could have thought it would be pointless to stick around if no one can get along. If he wanted to live his life as a regular cat, Morgana certainly could have thought a simple life is better than being a Phantom Thief. It might not be worth the risk to get back his human form, or-

A thought suddenly struck Haru. Father wanted to enter the political world, which is why her engagement to Sugimura came to be. The Sugimura family is wealthy, powerful, and influential. News of an Okumura and Sugimura marriage would spark news. Both families would benefit; especially the Okumura family. As new money, this could give be the push up the social ladder.

Haru was force by her father to keep an eye on the news, especially in regards to politics. Ever since his death, Haru stopped caring. Knowing Father’s involvement with Akechi…

“The elections,” mutters Haru, quickly covering her mouth with her hands.

Yusuke, who was the closest, raises his head. “What about the elections?”

“I think,” answer Haru, uncovering her hands, “there’s a chance Morgana might be trying to connect Joker’s death to the prime minister elections.”

~~~

Haru is truly glad the group is back together again. Her guess of Makoto telling the truth to her sister was correct- well, partly. After Makoto told Sae the truth, she also informed her of the plan, and how Sae unwillingly let an innocent teenager died on her watch. Makoto never brought up Akechi did the deed, but Makoto’s reasoning is logical.

“If she finds out it was Akechi,” says Makoto, as everyone enter Mementos, “Sae might try to get him arrest without a second thought. Sae is suspecting something is wrong at work with the new SIU director. If the two are related, I don’t’ want her to get into any danger.”

“So for now,” cuts in Ryuji, “Makoto’s sister is keeping an eye out on Morgana in the real world, while we search Mementos for Morgana and clues.”

“And when we find Morgana,” continues Makoto, staring at Ryuji and Futaba, “I’ll make sure no one from our side will try to sway Morgan’s opinion. We’ll only say our arguments to him and Sae when everyone is back together.”

“And we’ll do the same on our end,” replies Haru, turning back to Ann and Yusuke.

“It’s only fair,” states Ann, as Yusuke nods his head in agreement.

“Yeah well,” says a fluster Ryuji, stomping his foot, “I’ll be texting you all every night to make sure! Even if it means losing sleep!”

“Oh, please don’t.” Futaba groans, and places her hand onto her head. “I nearly almost block you when you spammed who knows how many texts!”

~~~

It’s December 14th, only four days before the prime minister will be chosen. Nowhere in the Metaverse and the real world were there any signs of Morgana. Maybe Morgana already figure out a connection and plans on doing it solo. It’s one thing to be alone in the Mementos, but it’s another thing to do it alone in a Palace. Haru couldn’t help but remembered seeing her friend in her father’s Palace. She didn’t want to think of Morgana in that awful situation.

Quickening up her pace, Haru makes it to the entrance of the school. She had to meet everyone at Café Leblanc. Sae planned on visiting, saying she might have an idea who could be behind everything. Haru suddenly felt something hitting her leg. She looks down to see a small pebble.

“Pssh! Haru!”

From the corner of her eye, Haru saw that it’s Morgana. Haru felt her heart beating fast, with all the worries being nonexistent now. She runs towards the cat as if her life depended on it. Getting onto her knees, Haru gives Morgana a hug.

“Haru…you’re…squishing me…”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Haru quickly lets go of Morgana to give him back some air. “It’s good to see you again, Mona-chan! Where have you been?”

“It’s a long story,” answers Morgana, jumping back onto the streets. “Short version is that I was following Akechi! Now, if we don’t hurry up, the weird man-”

“Akechi?” Haru raises both of her eyebrows in surprise. “You were following Akechi? Why? And why does this weird man have to do with anything?”

“Oooh…Just follow me!” Morgana quickly runs in the opposite direction, and yells. “Call the others to let them what you’re doing, and to stay in the same place! Speaking of which, make sure that phone of yours is on when we get there! This is our one and only chance to figure out who Akechi is working for!”

* * *

“Are you sure we should be doing this?”

“Trust me, Haru. I watched Akechi come and go from place so many times I know Akechi and the weird man are the only two people here, in this area at least. In fact, I know this place like the back of my…um, paw. Weird man doesn’t work and live here 24/7.”

“I don’t mean it like that! What if-”

 _ **CREEAAK.**_ “Oh no! Mona-can, what should we do?”

“Just follow me! And get your phone ready!”

***

 _ **BANG!**_ “ _SURPRISE!_ DOCTOR MA-”

Barging into the lab is a man with a heavy figure, and rather small beard. His white hair is slowly taking over his black hair, and a few of these strands are currently out of place. His chest is rising up and down, and underneath one of his arms is a white box.

“Dr. Maki…what is the meaning of this?” The box falls onto the ground with a heavy thud.

Dr. Maki is on the floor, currently holding onto Akechi as if his life depended on it. Akechi, on the other hand, is gripping onto the doctor. Akechi’s fingers are apparently digging into Dr. Maki’s clothing, if the grunts from the doctor meant anything. Akechi’s body is moving left and right. Sweating from head to toe, Akechi’s face is full of excruciating pain. Blood –or maybe vomit- is pouring out from his mouth.

Akechi somehow manage to knock off Dr. Maki’s glass. In fact, they are now broken on the floor. Dr. Maki’s finely comb hair is undone, his bangs loose and wild. “President Sonozaki…what are you doing here?”

“Does it matter now?” ask President Sonozaki, his voice more confuse than shock and upset. “What I want to know is why Goro Akechi is here! Dr. Maki…is he your son?”

Dr. Maki stays silent, as if he isn’t sure what to say. He then gives a scoff, then bitter laugh.

“No,” answers Dr. Maki. Instead of the robot he was minutes ago, Dr. Maki spoke with anger and regret, clearly upset with everything that happened so far. “He’s not.”

~~~

President Sonozaki called his private doctor, Dr. Goto, from his cellphone. Within ten minutes, the old gentleman arrives with a medical bag. Dr. Goto is also confused, but President Sonozaki raised hand meant there’s no need to ask questions.

Dr. Goto asked Dr. Maki about Akechi’s symptoms and when they started. After asking Dr. Maki where the bathroom was at, Dr. Goto went there for…something. When he returned, the man then look at the contents of the trash can. After several long excruciating minutes on examining Akechi, Dr. Goto clears his throat.

“Well?” ask President Sonozaki. “What happened to Akechi-kun?”

“Nothing good,” answers Dr. Goto solemnly. “If Maki-san didn’t agree with the boy’s self made diagnosis, Akechi’s chances might be higher.”

“Higher? Of what?” Dr. Maki walks towards Dr. Goto, as if he’s going to shake the man by the shoulders. However, President Sonozaki blocks Dr. Maki’s path with his arm.

“Tells us the truth,” says President Sonozaki. “Will Akechi-kun survive?”

Dr. Goto takes a deep breath in, and exhales. “I saw Akechi’s condition once before in the States. But I wasn’t the tending doctor, and was only informed later one. While this person survived, he couldn’t live life normally. We should get Akechi to a hospital to make sure I’m-”

“What is wrong with Akechi!?” President Sonozaki turns to Dr. Maki. His outburst certainly isn’t one he approves of.

“Dr. Maki, I know you’re upset, but I do think-”

“No,” interrupts Dr. Goto quietly. “The two of you know. It’s very possible that…”

Dr. Goto apparently can’t seem to figure out what to say next. However, he did. “It’s possible that somehow, Goro Akechi has arsenic poisoning.”

~~~

Everyone agreed Akechi needed medical attention, and so President Sonozaki and Dr. Goto dragged the unconscious disguised Akechi to Dr. Maki’s car (the disguise being a ponytail, surgical mask, cap, sunglasses, and an extra oversize hooded jacket), while Dr. Maki did a hastily clean up to make it so Akechi was never there. When Dr. Maki finished, he stands right in the middle of the lab in silence.

President Sonozaki re-enters, and joins the man. After more silence, the man spoke. “Dr. Maki, please…tell me the truth. If Akechi isn’t your son, why did his file of you say you have one?”

Dr. Maki didn’t speak for a moment. When he did, his voice is full of poison and contempt. “It’s simple. He toys with people, getting them to do what he needs with sugar coated words. He wants to make sure he can completely steer Japan into the direction he wants. That man is willing to use anyone to achieve his goal of prime minister. And anyone, I do mean **anyone**.”

“Are you telling me,” asks President Sonozaki, “Akechi is Shido’s _son_?”

“Yes. For the last two and a half years, Shido ordered Akechi to do the dirty work in the other world. Shido ordered Akechi to do every accident, every death, _**everything** _ever asked. When Shido becomes prime minister, Akechi would either be dead in a ditch or lock up in a mental hospital, if he isn’t thrown right into prison for all of his crimes.”

President Sonozaki is silent. Then… “What do you mean by your last statement?”

“Since Akechi is his bastard child, Shido suspects Akechi would do something to take that victory away as revenge. Akechi could kill him via the other world, or tell the truth about everything for the last few years. The fact Akechi could also tell the world of his dead mother and status will put the final nail on the coffin for Shido’s newfound life as prime minister.”

“So Shido will either kill Akechi first, or gets you to fall on the sword for his mistake he created.”

“That is also correct. If Akechi enacts this second plan, Shido will publically denounce the claims. Shido will be kind at first, saying he’s please someone so young admires him. Then he’ll cut Akechi down, saying that he isn’t the boy’s father, and that Akechi needs help. If Akechi still tries to claims otherwise, even with his shattered reputation” –Dr. Maki chokes on the last word, but continues- “I would go to the media, and tell the world I’m Akechi’s father. Even if Akechi insist on proving it, it’ll be too late. Akechi and I will be ruined together.”

Dr. Maki’s lower his head. Then, there’s a low sob. It’s a low, ugly sob. “Shido chose me because I fitted his all of his criteria. He took up your offer of the BioTech Lab not only to study Wakaba’s research, but for us to meet as well. Shido thought it would be best if Akechi’s ‘father’ is someone he knew. Shido wanted to mock Akechi, for assuming he’ll admit the truth of their relationship. Shido wanted to show Akechi he’ll never get what he wanted!”

Dr. Maki walks away from his place, and punches the metal wall. “Shido swore to me no harm -directly or indirectly- will happen to Akechi, knowing well he couldn’t get rid of his golden ticket so early in the game. And I swore to Shido I wouldn’t get attached, especially if Akechi planned on killing Shido. I did a damn good job at it, making myself emotionless. When the weapon technology project ended, I became so _**glad**_ at the thought of Akechi no longer visiting.”

Dr. Maki’s voice is louder, and it’s cracking. “But he didn’t stop. Akechi kept on visiting, but I never turned him away. Even when he pushed my limits, I did nothing to discourage him. I know Akechi doesn’t think little about me. He always tries to disrupt my lab in some way or form, and he rarely does a word I say. Akechi did that again yesterday. He told me about a gift…a gift sent from Shido. To think I was the first person he called. To think that…”

Dr. Maki punches the wall once more, never finishing his sentence. Silence filled the room.

“Don’t worry, Dr. Maki,” replies the old man at last. “Shido-san won’t get away with this. But for now, we must make our leave. Dr. Goto is probably wondering what is taking us so long.”

With that, the two men left.

***

Haru slowly opens the janitor closet door. Her hands are trembling, her legs are shaky, and her entire body is cold. Morgana did a gentle pace to Dr. Maki’s table, and jumps onto it. He gives Haru a worrisome look, and sits down next to a magazine lying on the table.

“Haru, are you okay?”

“I’m…fine,” lies Haru, staring down at the phone in her hand, still recording everything. Haru gave a gentle push of a button, and sits down on Dr. Maki’s chair.

“Well I’m not!” exclaims Morgana. “I thought when we found Akechi, we would just see him annoying healthy self, gloating to his doctor friend about Joker, and discussing their employer. I really only expected us to get a name.”

“As did I,” admits Haru, looking at the metal wall with a dent. “That was one of the worse thirty minutes of my life. I never thought Akechi’s comment at Café Leblanc, around the time he joined up, was true.”

“Me either. I thought he was just trying to suck up to us. But…Joker and I did discuss Akechi’s visit to Café Leblanc once before. Futaba was there too. Akechi brought up his mother, about how she died. If Akechi was telling the truth and if we take Dr. Maki’s words now, then Akechi…”

“Akechi agreed to work for his father, just for the sake of getting justice for him and his mother. To think that…To think that Akechi’s own father would…”

Haru felt a lump forming in her throat. She couldn’t finish her own sentence. Haru couldn’t help be disgust that fathers who uses their own children for selfish goals can exists. But unlike Father, Shido never cared at all. He never even thought of Akechi. Shido dumped him onto the streets, and instead of doing the right thing when the two were reunited, he decided to use Akechi like a puppet. That man played Akechi down until there’s nothing left, letting others take care of the remaining pieces.

Haru thinks she is extremely lucky to have a father that isn’t like that. At least Father cared once upon a time. It’s certainly better than nothing. Haru looks at the phone in hand, and glares. _There’s no doubt about it_ , thought Haru, spinning the chair around to face Morgana.

“Mona-chan,” says Haru, her voice stern as iron, lifting her head up. “You know what we have to do now. Not only do we have to expose this Shido as the monster behind everything, we need make sure Shido won’t get away with any more crimes. We need to change his heart. Our leader, my father…and I can’t believe I’m even thinking this…but if Akechi does die-”

“I know,” cuts in Morgana, nodding his head. “I agree with you too. He deserves justice as well. We just need to make sure everyone is on board with it if it happens.”

Haru gives the cat a smile of hope. Haru doesn’t know why, but she feels it in her heart that everyone will be on board with it. So the two of them left, making sure any sign of their hiding never happened.

* * *

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.”

Everyone at Café LeBlanc were absolutely shaken to their core after hearing and seeing the video (partly cover) footage of Haru and Morgana’s misadventure at the Sonozaki BioTech Lab. And of course, everyone reacted accordingly, from the identity of Akechi’s father and ring leader who order their former leader’s death, Akechi’s plans of revenge, and of course, Shido’s plans of killing Akechi with arsenic poisoning.

Makoto made no movement in her posture, but her trembling hands say otherwise. Ann bit her lower lip, her eye wide with surprise and horror. Yusuke fell of his chair. Futaba moves her legs up closer to her body, and buries her head into them. As for Ryuji, he pretty much spoke for the teenagers with his cursing, nearly knocking his drink right onto the floor.

Sae Niijima’s mouth is open wide, but no words were coming out. Instead, she took a deep breath in, and exhales loudly. “To think that Masayoshi Shido is in fact the mastermind of all this…”

“I can’t believe I was wrong the entire time.”

Futaba lifts her head up at the comment. “Sojiro?”

Sojiro, from the beginning to the end of the tape, said nothing. Standing behind the counter, his eyes were close tight, listening to everything on the tape as if he was trying to remember something. There was a strange twitch of the mouth when Dr. Maki spoke, but other than that, nothing. Shaking his head, the man finally decides to his open eyes. They were narrow, and soon, Sojiro’s mouth became a frown of disgust.

“What is the matter?” Yusuke stood up, and glares at the chair he was formerly sitting in.

Sojiro gives out a long sigh, as if he’s really to spill everything he kept hidden in his lifetime. Sae must have know something what the man is thinking, as she raise an eyebrow, with a look on her face that almost read as, “told you so.” Haru and everyone else quickly decide to put their focus onto the older man.

“Back in my previous job,” says Sojiro, rubbing his beard, “Wakaba became friendly with some people at the Sonozaki Group. I didn’t tell your mother this, Futaba, but I thought her newfound friends were trying to steal her research and give it to President Sonozaki. It seems Wakaba had the right idea, as she later ended all ties with the group. When Wakaba died, I thought for certain Sonozaki was behind her death.”

Sojiro shakes his head. “Of course, some things didn’t add up. While some Sonozaki’s workers were in similar related fields of studies, most of the scientists and researchers were not. Not only that, I also had suspicions Shido was tangled up with them, but I couldn’t connect how. Shido was what you might call ‘small fry’ back in the days, trying to make allies in high places. He always told them he was going to be prime minister one day.”

Sojiro gives Futaba a look of regret. “Nobody believed him though. Not even me. When you mother died, and realizing there wasn’t anything I could do, I decided to protect you and went into hiding. Of course Shido is the one behind it all. That man had everything to gain from it!”

Futaba gives the man a teary glare. “If you had suspicions, why didn’t you say them sooner!?”

“You guys would’ve definitely gone after him if I had! Sonozaki could easily be taken down, but Shido was and is ruthless. No doubt he would find way to ruin you all, or worse, kill you!”

“And now that we know that part is for certain with Akechi’s current condition,” interrupts Sae, looking down at the ground, “I think Boss had every right to keep it hidden until now.”

“Still,” says Ryuji, leaning into the booth’s table, “I’m still tryin’ to wrap my head with why you apparently suspected Shido. I mean, no offense, but how could you put him on the top of your list of being the criminal mastermind?”

“I agree.” Haru stares at the woman, holding the handle of the cup with care. “Do you have some kind of evidence?”

“Well,” answers Sae, crossing her arms against her body, “it’s nothing material. However, there are various conditions which align perfectly.”

Sae leans in forward, for the teenagers sitting at the booths could hear. “First, Shido constantly criticized the current administration for failing to fix the damage done by the psychotic breakdowns. Adding his negative stance towards the Phantom Thieves, Shido was able to gain tremendous popularity with the people over the past year. Based off everything we know now, Shido is most likely going to become the next prime minster this upcoming election.”

“So he deliberately set us up for my father’s death with the election in mind,” comments Haru, her voice full of disgust. “To think Shido can even think he could be the next prime minister.”

“In that case, we’re going to make him have a change of heart, no matter what it takes,” says Ann, sitting up straight. “Shido isn’t going to get away with everything.”

“I hope so,” states Futaba glumly, as she stares at the table.

Makoto’s stern face soon transform into a look of sympathy. She walks over to Futaba, and places her hand onto her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Futaba. We’re going to get justice for your mother. We just have to make sure it’s all done on time.”

“But that means we only…not countin’ today…THREE DAYS!” Ryuji puts three fingers into the air. “Oh man, this is impossible! The shortest time we did everything was a freaking week! That means we have to explore Shido’s Palace, and find his Treasure by the 16th."

“Meaning we have to do the calling card and change of heart on the 17th. I agree that the task daunting. It doesn’t help we have to find the other key words,” says Yusuke, putting a loose strand of hair behind his ear. “All we have so far is just a name.”

“Oh, speaking of that, we gotta make sure the guy really does have a Palace!” Ryuji pulls out his phone, and opens the Nav App. “Masayoshi Shido, the guy runnin’ for prime minister.”

_**RESULT FOUND** _

“No surprise there,” answers Morgana, moving his tail left and right. “But where would the location be? What type of things goes through a politician’s head?”

“I always think of dirty money and shady actions,” mutters Futaba, lookup up from the table.

“While likely,” says Ann, her hands gripping her hands onto her chair, “I think this has to be important to his life. It’s so important, Shido just can’t be without.”

“His Palace must be somewhere that politicians frequent,” replies Makoto, removing her hand from Futaba’s shoulder to cross her arms. “Like…the Diet Building.”

_**CANDIDATE FOUND** _

“Oh yeah, we got a hit!” Ryuji did a small fist bump in the air. “We just need one more to go. If I’m a good for nothing politician wanting to run Japan, how would I do it? How can I even do it?”

As the Phantom Thieves ponders over this, Haru took the time to stare at her cup of coffee. The steam is long gone, but the drink itself it still warm. How can it be so difficult to figure out a terrible man like Shido? They know everything about him. Is there something they’re all overlooking from her phone? Is there something important that never made it to her phone?

“That’s it!” Morgana suddenly jumps off from the table, and runs towards the door. It got the attention of everyone, especially Sojiro and Sae. Sae stood up from her seat, and slowly walks towards the door. Sae stares at Morgana, who is now pointing his head as if he wants her to open it. Sae raises her eyebrow, and with a flabbergasted look, opens the door.

“Thanks!” Morgana runs outside, and calls to the others. “I think I know the last key word! Come on guys! Follow me!”

“What did the cat say?” Sojiro walks from behind the counter, joining Sae at the entrance.

All the teenagers give each other a strange look, as if they were trying to figure out how to answer him. In the end, they all ran outside to join Morgana, who at this point, ran off. Only Makoto and Haru linger behind, the two giving sympathy looks.

“Sorry, Sis,” explains Makoto, cupping her hands together. “We’ll explain everything later!”

“In the meantime,” says Haru, running after Makoto, “maybe you can figure out what hospital Akechi may be at! Dr. Goto couldn’t have taken him out of the city without getting notice!”

~~~

Masayoshi Shido. Diet Building. **Ship.**

The keyword was on Haru’s phone the whole time. Everyone just passed over it without a second thought (“Thank you Dr. Maki,” says Morgana, sticking his head from Haru’s schoolbag). When they enter Shido’s Palace, nothing seems out of the ordinary. Everything looked the same. If Morgana didn’t change his form, none of them would have even notice. If Futaba haven’t grabbed everyone’s attention, they wouldn’t have seen they were all on a luxury cruise. Like the ark, it’s a ship out in the open waters, the rest of the world in flooded ruins.

After the initial shock and awe worn off from the grandiose Palace, the Phantom Thieves realize that things were going to be tougher than it looks. Five letters from the VIPs were needed to get to where the Treasure is. However, there were some setbacks. Being stuck with only half of their supplies, the short time limit…the fact they’re down one member.

“We got to make we get the route to the Treasure by the 16th,” states Makoto. “Every spare minute here can’t be wasted. We can’t get lost, we can’t get caught…we have to play this safe.”

“Determination guys!” Futaba stares at everyone, giving them all a big smile and two thumbs up. “We have to be full of determination! That’s the only way we can get through this.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Ryuji cracks his knuckles, and smirks.

While everyone is full of high hopes and excitement for finally getting justice done for Joker, Haru couldn’t help but think terrible thoughts. She couldn’t help but think about Sae Niijima’s Palace. Everyone is acting the same way back then, full of pride with their plan. Goro Akechi may be out of the picture –no doubt caused by his father- but Haru couldn’t help but wonder what might go wrong this time. What action, directly or indirectly, will fall on everyone?

 _Not only for us,_ thought Haru, as she follows the rest of her friends, _but for Akechi as well_.

* * *

Shido leans his body into his desk, resting his hands under his chin, the corner of his eye watching computer screen saver becoming activated. Flashes of colors were changing on the screen, as if someone had a bad acid trip and were truly reaching the plains of nirvana. It was Akechi’s suggestion. Shido didn’t mind it, as he found it relaxing of all things.

Standing before him is one of the many researchers chosen by Shido’s own hand to further study Wakaba Isshiki’s research. Next to researcher is Shido’s private doctor. They are one of the few to know about Akechi, but not Shido’s secret.

“If what you’re saying is true,” says Shido, staring at the researcher, “It’s possible for a change of heart stop with the Phantom Thieves inside a Palace.”

“Yes. As the temporarily collapsing a Palace is so abrupt in nature, they will be unable to escape without extreme luck. However, the only way to purposely erase a cognitive world is by halting the biological activity. In other words, this medicine will temporary kill you. There are great risks involved in this option.”

“Indeed.” The private gives Shido a worrisome look. “Many things may go wrong.”

“I’ll be fine. Just make sure you’ll be able to transfer me at once if anything does go wrong.”

While the private doctor leaves silently, the researcher remains.

“Sir…Are you sure you want to do this? We barely just started to-”

“I’ll be fine. Just be sure Sonozaki doesn’t put his nose where it doesn’t belong.”

When the researcher finally leaves, Shido looks back fully to the computer screen. Shido knew no doubt that the day of reckoning was coming. When the 18th arrives, Shido will crush Akechi into pieces, and throw him way again, this time, for good.

However, Shido couldn’t help shake the feeling something is wrong. While everything for Akechi is all set and ready to go, the man couldn’t help but think the brat is doing something. Akechi, for all intents and purpose, hasn’t answered his calls. It was that, phone issues, or the likely hood of him running away as a failure. It’s possible that Akechi failed to stop the Phantom Thieves, even after taking out their leader.

What was the point of having a child that won’t do as you say? What’s the point of having someone with your flesh and blood if they’re going to be useless?

_“What’s the point of having a child if you are going to destroy them in the end?”_

Shido felt shivers down his spine just by thinking about that memory. The man knew that the words were directed at Okumura, not him. Now, believe it or not, Okumura brought up his daughter in a few conversations. He always spoke only kind things, even when he’s upset at her for disobeying him. If Okumura didn’t try to force his daughter into that ridiculous engagement, Shido would have assumed Okumura was a family man. A betrayal of values…this is why Sonozaki despised the man.

This is why Sonozaki despises a man like Shido. If Sonozaki ever found out…

Shido stares at the cellphone a few inches away from him. _No, Sonozaki will never find out._ With a sigh, Shido grabs the phone, and calls a familiar number. If Akechi wanted to start things early, then Shido will let the boy do so. Two can play at this game. It’s not like Shido cares how everything will end. What matters is how it will end regardless: victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I made it obvious last chapter Dr. Maki was lying because then this chapter seems like a big retcon. If it feels that way, I'm sorry.


	4. Zero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Officially, this is the last chapter of the story. The next chapter will be explain when publish.

The second Makoto and her friends left, Sojiro Sakura took Sae by surprise, telling her that he always knows where Akechi is located. Sojiro told Sae to wait near his car while he changed out of his work clothes. While Sae had expect Sojiro to change out of his pink dress shirt and khakis –because let’s face it, Sojiro staying dress like that would be a sore thumb when standing next to her- Sae presumed Sojiro would wear a more casual off-time outfit.

When Sojiro finally left the house, the man’s appearance took her by surprised. Standing before Sae was not a man who would run a café that sells coffee and curry. Instead, standing before her is a man who works for the government, with his white business three piece suit and dark dress shoes contrasting one another.

“It is really necessary for you to dress like that?” Sae shakes her head side to side, and places a hand onto her hips. “We’re going to a hospital for goodness sake. I have the excuse to dress like the professional, since I am searching for Akechi. You might make us stand out like a sore thumb, especially if they have some knowledge of you beforehand via word of mouth.”

Sojiro gives out a curt scoff. “Who say Akechi is in the hospital?”

* * *

As it turns out, Akechi is not at a hospital, but the Sonozaki Group building. Sae tried to ask Sojiro on the drive there how he came to that conclusion, but Sojiro was silent the whole way. Sae took it as a sign of him not wanting to bring up his old job. Sae knew enough about Sojiro’s time at the government there were things he’ll never tell, not even to her.

Arriving at the Sonozaki Group building is something Sae never expect to happen. The glass windows taller were than her, pristine steps leading up the building itself, and a lobby that was worthy of the richest guests. Every inch of the lobby is clean. Not a pillow on the sofas and chairs are out of place. The few indoor trees are thriving and healthy.

The lobby is also surprisingly empty. The wooden receptionist desk shows two chairs, and two computers. However, neither receptionist is there. No one step out of the elevator and no one is walking down the stairs.

“Things might be easier than I thought.” Sojiro briskly walks towards the emergency stairs, and opens the door.

“Wha- Shouldn’t we take the main stairs? Or the elevator?”

“Trust me when I say this way is more efficient. We don’t want to get caught after all.”

~~~

Sae and Sojiro’s professional looks made them blend perfectly. Always everyone was in business outfits, or at least formal wear fitted for an office building. No one was also keeping an eye on the emergency stairs. After searching each floor, the two were able to slip back easily.

Sae nearly jumped out of her shoes when the two bumped into a man in a blue business suit, wearing a surgical face mask to avoid catching germs. However, the man acknowledges them as one of his colleagues, giving them a brief update. He was visiting the twelfth floor, when President Sonozaki came by. In one swift command, he ordered the security guards to make sure the floor is evacuated, forcing everyone to work elsewhere.

So of course, the man wisely decided to make a safe escape, and wanted to spare his fellow co-workers from the president’s wrath. After the man left their sight, Sae and Sojiro stares at one another, and quickly fasten their pace. If President Sonozaki is doing something this drastic, then it has to be related to Akechi.

When they arrived on the twelfth floor, they saw that it was fully abandon. Papers were on the floors. Several doors were open, showing that the desk and tables were empty. In the middle of the floor was another abandon reception desk, with the computer still trying to shut itself down. Sae and Sojiro walks behind the desk-

“But President Sonozaki-”

Sae and Sojiro give each other a panic look, and the two quickly squatted down, trying their best to fit in the small nook of the desk. Sae hope no one would try to look over the reception desk.

“Yes, Dr. Goto?”

“I know that you think this is the best way to handle things, but is this really necessary, removing everyone from the floor? No one would dare speak a word of it to the outside world.”

“Indeed. But who knows if they would speak a word of it to anyone here. We must make sure no one knows what we’re doing. Now, please go and attend Akechi-kun. Dr. Maki is due back any second. He desperately hopes if you found the official cause of the boy’s condition. He wants to be sure that it’s arsenic poisoning.”

“Yes, sir. But do know the results may not come until tomorrow.”

When both sets of footsteps were gone, Sae and Sojiro slowly peak up from the desk, making sure no one is still there. Sae gives out a sigh of relief, and closes her eyes. The entire time at the café, Sae’s heart was racing fast, after hearing the words from Dr. Goto’s mouth.

Sae will not deny that she was absolutely betrayal when Makoto told her that it was Akechi who murdered the Phantom Thieves leader. Sae almost wanted to throw up. She just had a conversation with Akechi, a semi- pleasant one at that, minutes beforehand. How could he lie to her right in the face? Sae was already upset enough that Makoto and her friends were trying to use her to avoid his grim fate. To think she failed him, failed her sister, the second she left the room without the phone.

Knowing Akechi was a two face liar and criminal made Sae wanted to scream at the teenager. Sae wanted to ask Akechi why he did it. She wanted to know why he when and why he became a killer. She wanted to know how he could keep up lying to her after all these years.

Sae wanted to know if the Akechi she knew -the strange lonely detective- was even real at all.

Hearing, and partly seeing the video recording of Akechi at the Sonozaki BioTech Lab, answered all of her questions in the worse possible way. Sae knows that the recording wouldn’t be admissible, but it gave some comfort to know she finally got her wish.

It just had to happen in the worse possible way. How could a father use his own child for his selfish needs and goals? A father should take care of their child; love them with all their hearts.

 _Actually_ , thought Sae, as she and Sojiro stood up from behind the desk, _Shido shouldn’t even be call a father._ If Shido wanted to give his title of fatherhood to someone else, then that means Shido doesn’t even see Akechi as his own flesh and blood.

“I think we made enough progress for today,” states Sojiro. “Let’s go back and wait for the others.”

As the two made it back to the emergency stairs, Sojiro grips his hand onto the door handle. However, the man makes no attempts to open the door. He stares at the ground, and looks back towards Sae, his face stern and solemn. “I think we shouldn’t mention where Akechi is at. At least, not now. We’ll just tell them that Akechi is getting the care he needs at the moment.”

~~~

Sae and Sojiro couldn’t visit Akechi on the 15th, as the new SIU Director needed to speak to her, as well as a few detectives. The following day, after seeing Makoto leaving the apartment to join her friends at the Diet Building to explore Shido’s –Sae isn’t sure how cans of energy drinks, coffee, and a visit to the doctor in the area can help them- she called Sojiro over the phone. The two adults decided to make another visit to Akechi at the Sonozaki Group building.

Sae wanted to see Akechi for herself. She wanted to see if Akechi was doing all right, that he’s being taken care of in a place that shouldn’t be used as a hospital.

Once again, Sojiro changed his clothing. Once again, the two adults took the emergency stairs. And once again, two adults had to hide in the blasted reception desk. This time though, there was more room, as the chair was removed elsewhere. Sae and Sojiro overheard Dr. Maki and Dr. Goto talk this time around.

“What do you mean Akechi’s condition might get worse?”

“I said what I said, Maki-san. The urine test results came back with high levels of arsenic in his body. Whatever Akechi had of the poison must have been a large amount.”

“But…the chelation therapy! Shouldn’t it be working?”

“Just because it’s working doesn’t mean we started in time to save his life. But remember, ‘might’ is not the same as ‘is’. For all we know, when I check him again tomorrow, my prognosis may change for the better.”

“Let’s hope so. By the way…Dr. Goto, is it possible for me to visit Akechi?”

“The boy is unfortunately asleep. I know you want to spend time with him, but Akechi needs rest as well. The only reason I allowed you this morning is because of President Sonozaki, and even then he almost woke the boy up. If you want, you can visit him tomorrow, when he’s awake.”

“Alright then. Thank you.”

As Sae and Sojiro hear the footsteps of Dr. Goto leaving the area, they heard Dr. Maki making his way towards the reception desk. Sae felt the hairs of her back rise. Goosebumps were suddenly all over her body. Sae, wide eye, stares at Sojiro, who was doing his best to not panic.

Sae then hears the sounds of Dr. Maki placing his body against the desk. A pounding of the fist against the top of the desk shook the table, but nothing more. Then, Sae heard the sound of him sliding his back down. Not long after that, Sae hear the faint sound of the man’s low sobbing, trying their best to hold them back.

Dr. Maki cried for a full five minutes.

Sae admits that hearing Dr. Goto’s words frighten her. Akechi’s condition could go either way. He could live, or he could die. Akechi will live and do the right thing, with not only repenting for his crimes, but Akechi could get justice done upon Shido correctly, with people that support him, with people that cares for him, being by his side.

Or, Akechi will die dreaming a dream that will never happen; never realizing he stood a chance in hell to take down Shido. Akechi will die without knowing that despite everything, Sae still cares for him, and that Dr. Maki cares for him in a way Shido will never do, even if the Phantom Thieves successfully change in heart in time.

If she wasn’t hiding, and if they weren’t on two opposite end, Sae would have comfort the man.

~~~

December 17th came and went. The Phantom Thieves delivered their calling card near evening. Unfortunately, Sae wasn’t able to get to see it in them all in their full glory. Sae got ambushed by a few detectives, asking her about the identities of the remaining Phantom Thieves. Sae told them what she told the new SIU Director: That the former leader was so out of it, that she never got a name of his accomplices or allies.

In short, Sae bluntly told them that not only Joker wasted her valuable time, but them as well. The detectives didn’t took the insult so well, warning her that if anything goes wrong in the future, the blame will fall directly onto her.

Everything became hectic after that. When Sae came back to the apartment, it was midnight, the start of the new day. Makoto is still up, pacing back and forth in the living room.

“Sis!” Makoto gives Sae a smile, and runs towards her. “Are you okay?”

“Makoto, I should be asking you that,” jokes Sae, as she closes and locks the door behind her. “Did everything go alright in Shido’s Palace? You weren’t seriously hurt, are you?”

“We all made it out safe,” answers Makoto, as the two begin to walk towards the kitchen, as Sae decided to get a glass of water. “But Sis, while we were in Shido’s Palace-”

_Ring, Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring, Ring._

“Sorry Makoto, I got to take this call,” replies Sae apologetically, as she pulls out her phone. “Hmm…an unknown number…”

Sae pulls out a chair and sits down, while Makoto stares at her, looking upset and worry. Sae couldn’t help but wonder what happened in that vile’s man Palace that could have shaken her so much. However there wasn’t any time to ask, as the voice coming from the other end of the line took Sae by surprise.

“Prosecutor Niijima?”

“Yes, this is she.” Sae briefly looks up from her phone, and silently mouths to Makoto, ‘ _It’s President Sonozaki’_. Makoto’s eyes widen in surprise, and she carefully pulls out a chair herself, mouthing back _‘You have to play dumb with him’_. Sae nods her head in agreement. “May I ask who is calling?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sokichi Sonozaki. I believe you’re the person in charge of the Phantom Thieve investigation, alongside certain others incidents plaguing our city for the last year or so?”

“Why…yes. I am. I am in charge of those investigations. Do you have any information?”

“Yes, I unfortunately do. In fact, if you don’t mind, I want to make a deal with you.”

“A deal? You? Are you saying you’re personally involved in them?”

“Indirectly. Myself and an employee allowed ourselves to have connections to the man responsible for them all, and many more terrible crimes. We have knowledge about the mental shutdowns, psychotic breakdowns, President Okumrua’s death, and of course…the Phantom Thieves’ leader death. In exchange for our full corporation and testimonies, I want you to spare the Sonozaki Group as a whole, as they should not bear the burden of the mistakes we did.”

“I see…” _‘Sonozaki and Dr. Maki are giving themselves up.’_ “Well, if you truly stick to your word, I can guarantee that your sentences will be lightened considerably. In regards to your company…well, that will depend on how involved you two were in. Are you certain that you know the identity of the man responsible?”

“I do. Both of us know the man and his wickedness for the last few years, and we both had enough of it. Thank you, Prosecutor Niijima, for taking the time to talk me so late at night. I presume I should go directly to police?”

“Yes, and I will join you. Early morning will be fine, no?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that may not be possible. Will the afternoon do?”

“Afternoon?” Sae raise an eyebrow at Makoto.

“I would prefer it to be sooner, but if you have other business to attend too, then so be it.”

“So we settle on a time! That’s good. Also, I know this seems I’m asking too much…but when the man confesses to the crimes himself, it is possible for our statements to be release as well? In particular, my employee?”

“It depends on what the man confesses too. Even then, my superiors and the police may object to it.”

“Of course. Well, Good nigh-”

“Wait!” Sae stares at Makoto, who his currently shaking her head no in objection. “If you don’t mind my poor joke, how did this change of heart happened?”

Silence. Then, a sigh. “The man pushed a few personal buttons, and it hurt my employee in a way I never thought he would do. There was no way I could stand by him anymore.”

The man’s voice was full of hatred when speaking. ‘Push a few personal buttons.’ What did Sonozaki meant by that? How could Shido hurt not him, but Dr. Maki?

Sae quickly gaps, realizing there was something she didn’t bother to ask. “President Sonozaki, how did you get my number?”

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

Sae pulls the phone away from her face, staring at the screen. She places the phone onto the table, and sits there silently. Sae felt her throat tightening up, knowing well how the man got her number. There was no doubt the reason why this call even happened. She gives out a loud, ugly choke that nearly made Makoto jump out of her seat.

~~~

It’s another morning, it’s another day. Sojiro never left Morgana and Futaba’s side since last night. After Shido’s lapdogs took him away, trying to break him to giving up information, the man was sent back home. Futaba and the cat were in an absolute state of panic, and both were relieved when they saw him walk through the door, safe and unharmed. Futaba in particular didn’t want him to leave her sight, at least until she (and the cat) went to bed, and was only because Sojiro promised Futaba he’ll be there when she wakes up.

No doubt their reactions are a respond to losing their close friend.

“How am I going to tell his family?” Sojiro rubs the temples of his head, as he walks down the stairs. While Sojiro will admit he doesn’t know a thing about the family (he really only learned about them through a customer; frankly, their relationship is what you can call acquaintances), he knows enough that the parents were willing to keep their son away when they needed him the most. He knows enough that the parents were willing to go along with the public opinion.

However, they weren’t completely heartless. They still care about their son, believe it or not. He might not know it, but Sojiro knows. Once a month, they call Sojiro, asking if their son is okay, about how he’s doing in the big city. He gives them a brief update; the parents thank him, and tell him they’re call again. It’s a standard routine that’s never changed.

Until last month at least. His parents called like usual, and Sojiro never answered. Now, since the beginning of December, they were calling him every single day. Sometimes, it’s the mother. Sometimes, it’s the father. Sometimes, it’s both. But Sojiro never answered.

The last text was nerved racking: “We’re coming to Tokyo to see our son, whether you both like it or not.” There was no date or time, but it’s frightening nonetheless. It’s frightening, but terrible.

Of course his parents care when they realize something was truly wrong! Ever since he came to Tokyo, Sojiro couldn’t help but felt pity. There was a reason the teenager was on probation after all. However, Sojiro had enough on his plate at it was, and the man could only do as much as needed. There was no need to get personal with someone who’ll leave at the end of the school year. At best, Sojiro thought he could help the kid once in awhile, be someone who will keep him on his toes.

It wasn’t supposed to be the other way around. The teenager wasn’t supposed to help him out, to keep him on his toes. It was him to help Futaba when Sojiro couldn’t. Sojiro’s gratefulness became respect, and respect turn to like and fondness.

Before too long, Sojiro started to think of the teenager as his own son. Sojiro wasn’t sure why, but he knew one thing. When Sojiro was going to talk to his parents, he was going to give them an earful, a lecture for their parenting mistakes, and how they should treat him better in the future.

Of course, that will never happen now. And there’s one person to blame.

“Dad?”

Sojiro looks up to see Futaba in her everyday clothing. She’s rubbing her eyes, but the man can tell that Futaba had trouble sleeping, no doubt worried over her mind that something is going to happen to the family again.

“Hey, you’re up. You want something to eat?”

“No. I want to go to the café. I want to see if Morgana there.”

“He’s gone again, huh? Alright then.”

The two of them left the house in silence. The only noise around were the cars in the streets, and the few people up and about to open their shops. No one batted an eye at the sight of seeing Futaba walking with Sojiro so early in the morning, but then again, who doesn’t? People never pay attention to their surroundings. They stay in their own world, only time something exciting happen, like the Phantom Leader’s ‘suicide’, or the calling card from yesterday.

And then they go back to their regular, normal lives. Sojiro almost envies them. They will never know how they’re feeling at all.

“Hey, who’s that with Mona?” Futaba points her finger at the café, and Sojiro leaves his thoughts to see what she’s pointing at. The familiar black and white cat was just being petted by a complete stranger. He’s tall, is wearing tape held glasses, and his bangs were messy and wild.

Sojiro clenches his fist tight into a ball, and begins to walk towards the man. Sojiro felt an angry stirring inside him. Why of all people did Sojiro have to run into him?

Before Sojiro could call out the man’s name, the man suddenly pulled out a small piece of paper from his jacket pocket, gives it to Morgana, and stood up. He then puts his hands into his pockets, turns around, and walks away. Sojiro and Futaba stare at each other, and soon, continue to head to the café.

Morgana must have heard them, as he turns his head towards the two. His eyes dilating, the cat meow something to Futaba, and he quickly runs his ways to her, meowing over and over again. Futaba looked confused, and got into her feet so she could have a proper conservation where no one can hear them. It’s not like Sojiro can understand what the cat is saying away.

Sojiro meanwhile, decided to stare at the piece of paper. It’s folded up, and there was a name written in the smallest handwriting he ever seen: Sojiro Sakura.

Sojiro gives a small sigh, and bent down to pick it up. After unfolding it (why did he fold it six times?), the man decides to read the note: _Think whatever you want of me. All I ask of you is to not put the blame on the wrong person. Wakaba will be given the justice she desperately deserves._

“Sojiro?”

Sojiro quickly crumbles up the paper, and closes his fists tight. Futaba is carrying Morgana, who is clearly uncomfortable, as he is currently being held mid-air with his legs dangling out.

“What was the note?” Futaba tilts her head to the right, making Morgana move in the same direction.

“It’s…” Sojiro stares at his fist.

 _Not put the blame on the wrong person._ Sojiro knows for a fact that Goro Akechi was the one to kill Wakaba, and Maki knows it. Goro Akechi was the one to kill him as well. Goro Akechi is a killer, through and through, for the last two and a half years. To think Sojiro bought into the detective prince act. Goro Akechi didn’t think for a second about the consequences of his actions. If anything, Goro Akechi should be held responsible!

Yet Goro Akechi truly thought his actions were right and just. Are they misguided and terribly wrong? Yes, but Sojiro knows that despite everything, they were for a very good cause. It’s not unlike Futaba, if he thinks about. Both want to have their mother’s killer brought to justice.

The only difference is that Sojiro cares for Futaba. The only difference is that Futaba has people that care for her. No one cared for Goro until was too late, when Goro is beyond damage. The consequences of Goro’s situation are now playing out.

Sojiro knew what the note meant. There was no way Maki would have the guts to come back to Café LeBlanc after Sojiro nearly through him out, after gaining custody of Futaba. Maki knew well that if he showed his face again, Sojiro would do more than throw him out. The only way Maki would show his damn face here again if tragedy struck.

Sojiro couldn’t help but agree. There is in fact, someone else to blame.

“I think it’s best if we go inside,” continues Sojiro. “We have a long talk to get through.”

* * *

“YOU LONG NOSE BASTARD!”

The prisoner suddenly sits up from the ‘bed’ –actually, he isn’t even on a ‘bed’ anymore- and sees that the Velvet Room suddenly changed its shape and form. While everything is still the familiar shade blue, the familiar face that is Igor still present, it wasn’t a prison anymore.

The prisoner found himself, still in his striped uniform, still in his chains. However, instead of being inside his cell, he sees that he is sitting right next to another prison in a stripe uniform, also in chains. This prisoner bangs the table with his fists, and gives a snarl. His brown hair is a mess, and his brown eyes were full of anger…hate…

“Akechi?” Akechi quickly turned his head towards the prisoner. “So, you finally decided to wake up at last. Well, Joker, I say you have impeccable timing. I just decided to give a few words to the good Judge. Care to join me?”

“Judge?” The prisoner turned back towards Igor, sitting in front of them on the judge’s bench. “You mean Igor?”

“Yes I mean Igor! That no good-” Goro didn’t finished, as he was suddenly hit with a shock baton the prisoner knows all too well.

“Defendant! Don’t you dark speak when you’re not on the stand!”

“We have warned you numerous times before.”

The prisoner quickly lean his head forward to see Caroline is sitting next to Goro. Justine, on the other hand, is sitting across the room, opposite of them all. Both of them don’t seem to notice –or perhaps even care- that he’s here at all. It seems everyone has their focus on Igor. Not like he can blame them, because he’s confused as well. To think that he would find himself inside a courtroom again, not after since that man ruined his life.

_To think Akechi has access to the Velvet Room as well._

“I must apologize for my words earlier, Trickster,” said Igor, who is obvious not so apologetic in his words, if the gleam of his eyes shining bright underneath the light meant anything. “While your rehabilitation was not carried through, there was something I did not expect to happen.”

“What an incompetent criminal!”

“This is what happens when you fail to accept our assistance.”

Akechi gave out a bitter scoff. The words of the Twins were clearly directed towards him.

“To think the Loyalist got overthrown at the last second,” continued Igor, eyes still shining, “However, in the end, both of you achieved what you wanted. Both of you won, and both of you lost. The world shall not be in ruins, but it will no long stay the same. As such, there is only one option left. Caroline, Justine. You know what to do. Let them repent for their actions.”

_Winner or loser…_

“Akechi, what is going on?”

The prisoner’s chains were grabbed by Caroline, while Justine grabbed Akechi’s. Both twins were silent, and the prisoner closed his eyes. When he opened them up again, he realized he was in his familiar Velvet Room of cells. However Caroline dragged him into a different cell, one located far away. As Caroline locked him up, Justine directed Akechi in the opposite cell, allowing the two to talk to each other.

“It’s simple, Joker,” said Akechi. While his eyes are still full of hate, there was a sense of empathy. “You and I died, and we’re stuck with spending eternity in this hellhole together to see it all play out again with someone else.”


	5. Bang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Letting you know that this chapter is an epilogue that got way out of hand.

A man and woman are walking together in the cold weather. It is December 18th. The man is looking down at the ground, while the woman pulls her jacket closer. They hear people chatting, but they didn’t care about anything outside of their own little world.

The man and woman came to Tokyo to see their son, and they decided to stay with a close friend. Their friend took them to the man their son was staying with. Or rather, they went to the man’s café. The two barge into the café, seeing the man, a girl who may be his daughter, and a black and white cat. The two began to yell at the man, asking why their son isn’t at his house, about why there wasn’t any reply to their texts.

The two know their son resents him, hates them really. They didn’t stand by his side; they abandoned him in his time of need. They were worried about how their town would think. They were selfish and though only of their own needs, and not their son.

Still, they love him. Throughout the year, the man and woman discussed plans about their son’s future, when his probation is over. They thought it would be best to move elsewhere and start anew. Their small town still gives them terrible looks, mocks them behind their backs, even after knowing about the progress their son made. The fact the only remaining school in their town won’t take their son in meant something.

Of course, any plans now will be pointless. The café owner told them news: their son is dead. He then drove the two to the morgue, where they learn the truth. As it turns out, their son…well, he was certainly living a double life, one not even the café own knew until a short while ago. The man and woman would have yell at him, asking why he never told this…but they didn’t. They perfectly knew well why.

On the ride back, the man offered them coffee, on the house. They rejected it of course. They didn’t deserve the man’s kindness. All they did is ask him to take him to their friend’s home.

And this is where the man and woman are now. After finishing plans to take their son’s body back, to be buried with the rest of the family, and after informing the rest of the family of the tragedy, they decided to take a walk to clear their thoughts. Their friend offered to go with them, but they declined. The man and woman didn’t want their friend to miss a day of work. The two already caused enough problems as it is.

But it proved to be very difficult to clear their minds.

“Well, you look at that! There wasn’t any need to hold an election to begin with!”

“I knew Shido-san would win!”

The man quickly lifts his head off from the ground, and looks directly at the screen. His eyes widen in surprised. He pushes up his glasses, as gasps at seeing the new prime minister.

“Aiko! LOOK!”

“What it is Wa-Oh my goodness!”

~~~

“Shido-san, do you know what you’re going to say? We still have a copy of your speech.”

His secretary is walking beside him, carrying a few index cards inside a folder. Shido gives the man the side eye, and scowls at them.

“I may have been to a hospital, but that doesn’t mean I lost the ability to remember my speech.”

“Oh um, right. We’re just concern for you, that’s all.”

Shido pushes up his glasses and sighs. He knows why they’re all treating him differently. Shido is the porcelain doll that broke into pieces, and while they managed to fix him up again, they’re worried the damage will be seen, damage that is beyond repair. They’re worried he’s going to ruin everything that they planned for the last few years.

It made sense after all. Shido only spent one night at the hospital. His allies made it certain his hospitalization was kept a secret, out of the prying public eyes. The media would be like vultures, picking out the carcass at random, trying to get the best part before anyone. Shido’s private doctor was on standby the entire time, making sure everything as it should be.

Physically, Shido is fine. The pills didn’t do any damage now and in the unforeseeable future. In other words, Shido made it out with his life.

_Is he still alive though_ , thought Shido. He called a certain cleaner before heading to the hospital, but there wasn’t a call back. It’s too late to call again too anyway. The men and women were making sure their cameras –photo or video- weren’t going to break down. Everyone in Tokyo and all of Japan needed to know who their prime minister is. Everyone needed to see who the man is. Everyone knew Shido got the victory in the bag.

_It’s a victory I gained after getting everything to play in my favor_ , thought Shido, watching his secretary standing in the sidelines. Shido saw the man still waving the note cards, and soon, two other men from their group join the stage. Shido knew they were there to make sure nothing will go wrong. They were there to make Shido will do just as plan. They were going to make the last two and a half years were worth it. Nobody was going to ruined it, not even Shido himself.

“And five…four…three…two…one!”

The cameras were on, and everything is online. Shido knew that people from the streets, their living rooms, their phones, were watching him. He felt the thousands of eyes on him. Shido took a deep breath in, gives out his usual smile, and spoke with all the confident he has.

“My election is the result of every citizen’s aid. Your support warms my heart! That is why…” Shido felt his smile turn into a frown. He knew what the cards read. He memorized that speech by heart. But Shido knew what he would be saying is a lie. No more will Shido hide the truth. It’s only fair to everyone, including himself.

“That is exactly why… I cannot forgive myself.”

From the corner of his eyes, Shido sees that his secretary drops his files, the cards falling onto the floor. The two men next to him raise their eyebrows in shock and horror. Shido didn’t care thought. He’s doing exactly as he should do.

“The reason President Okumura passed away is…because I am the one who killed him. I am also responsible for killing the Phantom Thieve leader. I manipulated the information that the Phantom Thieves were behind the series of incidents, and to make sure they wouldn’t interfere anymore, I made sure their leader would die in police custody.”

Shido sees now that his secretary was trying to hold back a man. The man’s face is block, but Shido saw a tattered jacket sleeve. Two police men soon joined them, trying to drag the man away, all while giving Shido a look of strange disgust.

“The one who controlled the hearts of others and who gave rise to the countless victims for the last few years,” continues Shido, knowing his time is now cut shorter than he expected, “is myself. Everything was for my own promotion… for my own selfish gain.”

“What is he doing!?”

“Why isn’t anyone cutting their camera off?”

Shido felt his mouth becoming dry, and his hands trembles. He felt his eyes tearing up. They had to know. They had to know everything. _This is what Akechi wants after all…_

“I used people’s lives as stepping stones in order to claim this country as my own ship. I even used my flesh and blood. My poor son… when I discovered who he is, instead of being responsible, I made him do what I ask! I transform my son into a killer without a heart, and made him caused chaos throughout the city. Never did I give a second glance with my actions! Worse yet…I ordered my son death after getting everything from him.”

Shido hears few voices now from the sidelines: “Let me through! I need to speak to Shido-san!”

“Sir, you’re police custody. Why should-”

“My son, if you’re watching, knows that I did what you want. I told everyone who I am, that I’m the true criminal,” says Shido, trying to ignore the fight to the best of his ability. “When I am tried for these crimes, I know it still wouldn’t be enough. I have done many wrong doings that cannot and will never be forgiven. I beg everyone to pass judgment onto me! Let me atone for all I’ve done with my life! All I ask of you is leave my son be! Please don’t take it out on Goro Akechi!”

“That’s a lie.”

Shido turns his head to see Dr. Maki walking onto the stage, not caring about the cameras. His hands in tight fists, and his eyes were in tears. The two police men were reaching the stage when Dr. Maki spokes the words Shido thought once ago, would bring only joy and triumph.

“Masaoyoshi Shido, you know for a fact that Goro Akechi is my son, not yours.”

* * *

For a case against Shido-san to work, Sae needed to find people who weren’t in his pocket. While some were obvious, many were questionable. Sae however, knew who she could trust with her life: Prosecutor Chiba, the man who was originally next in line to be the new SIU Director before the proxy stole the job. Sae didn’t tell much, other than to get a few members of the police force he trust with his life (that resulted in four rookie police officers and two pairs of senior and junior detectives).

If Sae thinks about that December day, it really started out normal. President Sonozaki and Dr. Maki’s came in the afternoon, (to an entirely different building to play it safe), and both gave their statements to herself and Chiba-san. Sae took Sonozaki, while Chiba-san took Dr. Maki.

Everyone once in awhile, Sae and Chiba-san compared notes, just to be safe.

Both men named Masayoshi Shido as the criminal responsible for being the ‘ring leader’, with the Black Mask assassin being the one to carry out Shido and others’ requests. Both mean gave statements about the BioTech lab, and the stolen research it was studying that used to belong to one Wakaba Isshiki. However, Sonozaki made it clear he had no idea Shido ordered Isshiki’s death to get it until a year after it happen, while Maki only discussed his role in developing weapons for the Black Mask, as everything else was in a sense, block to anyone working directly with the Sonozaki Group before terminated it.

Both men confirm Shido had it out for Okumura and the Phantom Thieve’s leader for reasons. Sonozaki gave Shido warning about Okumura potentially backstabbing their little conspiracy –at least when it came to Shido’s goal of becoming prime minister. Maki learn of Shido’s hatred for the Phantom Thieves as a whole thanks to the Black Mask, and Shido thought it would be to nip them in the bud before things get worse, finding the chance after Okumura’s death.

Sae can pinpoint the divergence right here. When it came to the identity of the Black Mask, both confirm it was Goro Akechi. However, Sonozaki admits to only learning it was Akechi’s after visiting the Lab, hiding the boy in the Sonozaki Group Building.

(“After Maki told me the truth about Akechi and his relationship, and what Shido did, I had to help out. I wanted to make sure Shido-san wouldn’t discover anything, to do any harm to the boy. I guess we weren’t smart enough though,” said Sonozaki, lowering his head down. “When I went to the twelfth floor last night –close to midnight in fact- it was clear someone was there that I didn’t trust. After entering Akechi’s room…well, that’s why I called you, Prosecutor Niijima.”

Sae got confirmation from two of the officers that the third room on the twelfth floor had dried blood on the bed. A body has yet to be found).

Realizing Sonozaki wouldn’t give her anymore answers (both made the silence agreement Sonozaki managed to use Akechi’s now lost phone to find her number), Sae ordered two officers to take him away. Sae then walks towards the room Maki is at, and paces back and forth. When Sae sees Chiba-san exiting the room, with two officers taking Maki away, she saw from the man’s messy hair that something was bothering him.

“Chiba-san,” asks Sae, “what happened?”

Chiba told Sae that Maki was introduced to Akechi by Shido-san. Akechi had approached Shido as a young teenager, offering his ‘psychotic’ powers. After almost a year of service, Shido ordered Akechi to kill people. Wakaba Isshiki was the first hit.

“Interesting. Yet didn’t Maki say Shido ended it this weapon program?"

“He did. In fact, Shido ended it little after Isshiki's death."

“Then what’s the problem?”

Chiba-san didn’t say anything at first. He could only turn back towards the three men walking away. When he looks back at Sae, the woman could tell, there was something he wanted to ask, but not now at least. So, Chiba-san pulls out two pieces of papers from his folder files, and hands them to her. They were papers of a successful DNA of Kiyoshi Maki and Goro Akechi.

Sae admits she almost yelled, “How is that possible! Akechi-kun is Shido’s son!” However, she caught herself in time. No one knows about Haru’s recording. It will never be admitted as evidence against Shido.

Her silence must have been the opening Chiba-san needs, because the man asks, “Maki said Akechi visited the lab many times afterwards, but only recently did he have some suspicions not only on the boy, Shido’s motives on Akechi as well. Did Akechi ever talk about his parents to you, Niijima-san?”

“No! He only talks about how he was moved house to house due to having no relatives willing to take him in, on his mother side at least,” admits Sae, her eyes still on the paper. “I did overhear a few people talking about potential father and why he wasn’t in the picture a while ago. They were rumors, but they discussed about how his dad abandoned them, which contributed to his mother’s death.”

Well, that part is true. Sae couldn’t just leave that to herself.

“They must have been people who dislike Akechi and his idol-like status,” says Chiba, as he gives a sigh. “Still, strange to think you had to learn this through rumors.”

“Rumors usually do have a grain of truth in them,” answers Sae hastily, giving the papers back to Chiba. Soon, the two of them walk down the hall, to see how Sonozaki and Maki were doing. “But I don’t think this rumor is one of them, even if we have proof saying otherwise. Akechi would have investigate his mother’s life and discover her beau around the time of his conception. He’s a detective after all. No doubt even before that, he would do so.”

“However, it is possible Akechi-kun did found out, and was hiding it from you?”

“Hiding it from me? Why would Akechi do that?” _For many reasons, of course._

“I may not know Akechi like you do, but…”

“But what?”

“This seems a bit off topic, but seeing those papers made me remembered something I heard from my nephew, in his university days. A friend told him about this teenager -full out delinquent with a gang- who was rumored to be bastard child. The rumor goes that he wanted revenge on his biological father due to his treatment against his mother. However, he discovered his old man past away, and decided to try taking his revenge via his uncle.”

Sae stares back at the papers. “I can see why you remembered it. Akechi wanting to get revenge on his birth father is a good motive. But if that’s the case, why didn’t Akechi-kun tried to do so when spending time with Maki? Better yet, Maki could have told Akechi the truth, and act as the father he fail to be! No, I think it’s very possible Maki isn’t Akechi’s father. In fact, I think that Shido is-”

“Niijima-san! Chiba-san!”

Sae and Chiba stop walking, and sees one of the rookie officers running up to them –very so much with a limp. He’s out of breath, and soon, two other officers were running past them.

“What happened to you?” Sae grabs the officer, and helps him stand up straight. “It’s Maki! He said he needed to use the restroom, and that we should remove his cuff. But he made a run for it while we weren’t looking!”

* * *

Everything was going wrong. This is not how Shido thought his arrest would be. Yes, he knew it wouldn’t be glamorous. He knew loyal members of the group would try to do damage control. But Shido would have insisted to tell the truth regardless, he’s in his right state of mind. Shido knew exactly what he was doing when telling the world about everything, including what happened with Akechi.

The thing is, Shido didn’t expect Dr. Maki to lie.

_What’s going on?_ Both of them were quiet when they were taken to the back of the police car. Dr. Maki was in handcuffs, as the man had broken out of police custody and they didn’t want him to try escaping again. Shido got in voluntary, much to the dismay his secretary, saying that he should be going to a hospital instead. Shido told the younger man to shut up, and said nothing more.

Shido was certain he saw his secretary pull out his phone. No doubt he was going to get the new SIU director to stop whatever nonsense Niijima was doing under his nose. Niijima is an intelligence woman; no doubt she found a few allies who were willing to help her out (especially if one ally was the original pick of the SIU director successor).

As the two were taken to the police building, hundreds of photography cameras and news cameras were on. The flashing lights were going off and on like sparkles. Shido could barely see the door. The four officers told everyone to back off, and that questions will be answer later.

They all made it towards the hallway when they all saw Sonozaki, in handcuffs himself. He’s walking with two detectives on both sides, and Sonozaki glares at Shido. “I hope you’re proud of yourself,” states Sonozaki, his mouth twitching at the corner. “You caused one father enough grief with your lies. What you did is just despicable.”

Shido didn’t answer back. Instead he turns his attention to Dr. Maki. In one swift movement, he man slammed Dr. Maki onto the nearby wall, and grabs him tightly by the neck.

“The hell did you say to Sonozaki?”

“I just told him the truth,” answers Dr. Maki. “I couldn’t just lie to his face when he saw me and Akechi-kun together at the BioTech Lab. I had to tell him about the visits.”

“Visits? Are you saying Akechi went against my orders? Why would he do that?”

“Who knew what was going in that boy head?” Dr. Maki’s face was emotionless, but the glare of his eyes and low voice states otherwise. “However, I can’t say the same for you. I genuinely thought you did that because Wakaba’s research was proving useless. Now though, it makes sense. You wanted Akechi to still under your thumb, to make sure he never learn the truth-”

“You’re a god damn two-face liar Kiyoshi Maki,” shouts Shido. Shido grabs the man, throws him onto the ground, resulting in two officers restraining him. “After trusting you my secret, this is the thanks I get in return? You trying to twist it to fulfill your needs, you lying to your own boss, just so you can make a deal to save your sorry ass! If anything, you’re just as responsible as me!”

“I made this so call deal because I wanted to bring you to justice!” Dr. Maki snarls as he yells it, his hands still lock by the handcuffs and two officers trying to drag him away by his arms. “You knew how I regretted leaving Fumine all those years ago! Sonozaki told me about how you had a file with mine name on it! You knew that Goro was my son, and you used that to your advantage, to make him believe he was your son! If anything, you’re the two-face liar! You ruined my family just so you can be prime minister! Because of you, I don’t have any family left!”

“Are you delusional? I told you and everyone else before” -and here Shido managed to break free from the officers, and ran up to Dr. Maki – “Goro Akechi is my son. I’m the one who abandon Fumine, not you. The only reason you know her name is because I told you!”

“What’s going on here?”

Everyone looks up to see Sae Niijima, her mouth a thin line. In her hands is a thick folder, with a few papers sticking out.

“Niijima-san,” says Shido, ever so happy to see the person that’s helping ruining his life. “Please, listen to me. I committed my crimes on live television, and admitted to the world I have son. But this no good for nothing doctor is lying to everyone. Goro-”

“Goro Akechi is your son, not yours. I know. I saw your confession.”

Sae Niijima gives a sigh, and runs a hand through her hair. She closes her eyes, as if she’s trying to think of something. For a minute, she says nothing. When she opens her eyes again, the woman could only give a cold, hard stare.

“If you don’t mind officers,” states Niijima, walking close to Shido, “I would like to speak to him in the interrogation room. I want to clear some things up.”

The officers give each other stares before shrugging their shoulders in agreement. Soon, they left, dragging Dr. Maki with them. The doctor is still glaring at him, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Shido couldn’t say anything back as well, as Niijima-san forcibly drags him by the arm to an interrogation room. When the both of them got in, Sae closes the door, and gesture to Shido to sit on the chair.

“Prosecutor Niijima,” says Shido, as he sits down, “I don’t know what Dr. Maki said about me or Akechi, but know I am telling you the truth. Eighteen years ago, I abandon Akechi’s mother when she announced her pregnancy to me. I am Akechi’s biological father, and I made him do my bidding. I don’t know where that boy is –probably hiding out in fear- but if possible, can I give my testimony for him to-”

“You can’t give any testimony for Akechi. It’s not possible.” Niijima looks down at the ground, and took a seat herself. “Even if you could, Maki and Sonozaki gave enough to let Akechi to not only avoid the death penalty, but a lighter sentence as well. Of course, their words are only good against you now.”

“Why? Surely you can make a deal with me! I don’t even want it for myself!” Shido slams his hands onto the table. “Call me a terrible father in the past, but I want to do right now! Let me do this for my son! He needs to know-he needs to know I’m sorry, for everything.”

Niijima didn’t say anything. She’s still looking down at the ground. Then, she lifts her head up. Her eyes were sad. Niijima hesitantly places the folder onto the table, and stares at it for a moment. She then gave a sigh and opens it, pulling out photos and papers.

Shido in silence, could only stares at one photo. It’s of Akechi, in his school uniform, clean and crispy, as if it was dry clean. Akechi is inside the backseat of a car, the seats clean of stains. His hair is groom and brush, bangs long as ever, and his eyes close shut. Shido could have thought Akechi was sleeping, without a care in the world.

The dark red blood streaming down his face says otherwise.

“No…” Shido shook his head slow. “He can’t…Akechi can’t be dead…”

“We originally thought that the blood found at the Sonozaki’s building belonged to Akechi, but testing shows it wasn’t his,” says Niijima somberly, as if she didn’t hear him. “Not only that, the autopsy report explains Akechi’s death happened around four AM. We think Akechi injured the person, and tried to escape. However, he wasn’t fast enough, and his assailant managed to catch him. Sonozaki, Maki, and two other employees confirm Akechi wasn’t wearing his school uniform at the time, as it was in a drawer elsewhere.”

Shido slowly outreaches his hand, and touches the photo. _This is why the cleaner haven’t called me back._ Everything Shido wanted happened, just as plan. “So the assailant took Akechi and his clothes, force him to change, and shot him.”

“Correct. However,” Niijima then pushes a piece of paper towards Shido, “Akechi’s also had high traces of arsenic in his body. The levels were so high, Akechi could have died of arsenic poisoning instead later on today…despite having treatment.”

“Poison?” Shido looks up towards woman. “Are you certain of it? There’s no way Akechi would eat or drink anything that wasn’t from someone he trust.”

Niijima’s eyes widen in surprised, as if she didn’t expect him to say that. “Is that so? You swear by that?”

“Yes. Akechi rarely accepts gifts of food and drinks, especially if they came from fans,” admits Shido, now grabbing the paper. He read them over, and snarls. “High traces of arsenic…”

Shido throws the paper back at the woman, and narrows his eyes at her. “I regretfully admit that once, I would have wanted Akechi dead. In fact, I know the man responsible for my son’s death. I didn’t want Akechi to try and ruin things for me, but I thought Akechi was smart. I thought he was smart to avoid death.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. In fact,” it’s here Shido pulls out a pen from his inside pocket, and grabs a piece of paper (it had a few cross out words, and Niijima-san didn’t object to it), and writes it down. “This is his name, but given his profession, it won’t be easy. He would probably send a few of his colleague on me for giving him up.”

“This won’t get you a deal, you know.”

“I know. I got Akechi kill. This is something I want to do.”

Shido leans back in the chair, puts the pen away, and rubs his chin. Something was off about Akechi’s death. Shido couldn’t put his finger on it thought. Something about this rings a bell, as if he was talking to someone about it, but the man couldn’t figure out.

_But does it matter now?_ Shido looks back at the photos of Akechi. Another photo was at a different angle. Still, the blood pours down on Akechi’s face, never reaching his uniform. No doubt Akechi’s bangs were covering up the hole. Shido should be grateful that it wasn’t worse.

“Niijima-san,” begins Shido, looking away from the photo, “did Dr. Maki give you papers of proof of being Akechi’s father?”

“Yes actually. It’s a 100% certain match.”

“I want to do one myself. You can test my blood and Akechi’s. The papers Dr. Maki have-”

“Are backed up with another DNA test.” Niijima frowns at Shido, and she begins to collect all the items and put them back into the folder.

“What? No, that’s not possible! I only faked two papers. This is wrong. Please,” Shido then got out of his chair, and clasp his hands together. “Niijima-san, believe me when I’m Akechi’s father. I don’t know how Dr. Maki faked another test, but know that I’m telling you the truth. Run a third test, fourth test, run many tests that you can!”

“...You don’t think I tried?”

Niijima’s frown transform into a snarl. “You don’t think I tried to disprove Maki’s claim the second Akechi’s body was found, to read the same results? Believe me when I say I take your words over Maki’s.”

Shido stares at the woman, in a state of joy and pain. Joy, because someone believes him. Pain, because he can tell the woman was bother by something as well. Then, in a low voice, he continues. “Yet why can’t you do as I ask?”

“Evidence, that’s why. The DNA tests aren’t only against your favor, but the one evidence that could prove your word over Maki is gone. Sonozaki suddenly remember a file in your office, about Maki having a son. When we finally got the warrant, that file was destroyed, and it’s beyond fixing. Worse, Sonozaki also thought Maki was lying to him, and got a Doctor Goto to run a test himself, on you and Akechi. It came back negative.”

Niijima closes her eyes, and stood up. “As the saying goes, three strikes and you’re out. I’m sorry, but according to the facts, you are **not** Goro Akechi’s father.”

_Sonozaki, huh?_

Shido didn’t say anything when Niijima-san grabs him. She open the door, and the two walk down the hallway for a while, when another officer ran up to her. They were whispering, but he heard something about ‘parents of you know who’. Shido couldn’t figure who they were talking about, but Niijima’s terrible glare of disgust ends with her pushing him onto the officer.

“I advise you to put him far away from the other two. Don’t want to start any fights.”

* * *

“Mona-chan, are you this is the right way to do it?”

“We have no other choice. You were everyone’s last chance. We can’t just lie to them.”

“True…”

Haru and Morgana were outside Café Leblanc. Morgana was resting in her bag, and his head was sticking out like a bobble head. The two had come back from the station, where Haru and Morgana decided to check something out regarding the Metaverse. Ever since Shido’s arrest six day ago, the app on everyone’s phone began acting up. Sometimes it works, and they were able to do some requests in Mementos. Sometimes, only one or two can enter.

Two afternoon ago, after the last request was fulfill, Ryuji saw that the Nav App was gone from his phone when he was texting everyone. Soon, Ann lost it as well. One by one, in order of when they joined, all of the Phantom Thieves lost access.

All except Haru. Well, at least an hour ago.

“Here goes nothing.” Haru took a sharp breath in, and enters the café. Haru saw Makoto pacing around the café floor. Yusuke was sitting at the counter. Futaba, Ryuji, and Ann were sitting at the stall booth, with Futaba typing on her laptop, her own phone connected via a USB cable.

“Haru, Morgana!” Ann gives the two a wave. “How it went in Mementos?”

“Not good,” answers Haru, as she walks towards the booth. She places her bag down, and Morgana hops out of it, walking towards the empty seat next to Ryuji.

“Don’t tell me-” Ryuji closes his eyes as he spoke. “Haru lost access as well.”

“Yep,” says Morgana, as he sits down, his tail moving side to side. “Oddly enough, I can still enter it. I think that’s because of my connections to that place.”

“Is Mementos is still the same as before?” asks Ann, as she plays with a strand of her hair.

“I honestly can’t tell. For some reason, all the floors we went through are now lock up,” answers Morgana, lowering his head down. “It’s back to where it was in May. However, there seems to be no signs of Shadows. While I could say that doing the Phan-site requests did that, it wouldn’t explain the weaker Shadows disappearance.”

“How peculiar,” says Yusuke, crossing his arms. “Maybe the Shadows are in the inaccessible lower levels.”

“And,” inputs Makoto, “Thanks to Shido’s arrest –being our final target- caused the app’s disappearance.”

“But because we never truly made it to the bottom,” explains Futaba, unplugging her phone, “Morgana is still able to access it, at least to the upper floors.”

“So what are we going to do then?” Ann turns her head towards Haru, with a worrisome look on her face. “The Phantom Thieves still have an obligation to change hearts. There may not be targets now, but who knows in the future.”

Haru felt the hairs on the back of hair stand up straight. Morgan also tense up as well, as he was currently being petted by Ryuji, who quickly stop

. “Um, Morgana…what did you and Haru discussed on the way back?” Ryuji stares at Morgana, then at Haru.

“Since all of us except Morgana lost access,” began Haru, placing her thumb into her mouth, biting the tip of the nail, “we came to the conclusion that everyone but Mona-chan’s role as Phantom Thieves are done.”

“WHAT!?”

Everyone reacted appropriately. Those sitting at the booth stood up and slam their hands onto the table. Those who were pacing sit down. Those who were sitting fell off their seat.

“Are you saying we have to retire?” Ryuji’s eyes were narrow, and they were shining.

“Sort of. We can no longer help Morgana in the Metaverse,” explains Haru, “but we can be his eyes and ears. The fact Mako-chan and I are going to university soon and the rest of you entering high school or becoming third year students, we have to consider what is best.”

“It makes sense.” Makoto stares at Haru, her hands on her lap. “Our purpose is to change hearts, and to make society better as a whole, and we did that with Shido. His confession, alongside Dr. Maki and Sonozaki’s testimonies, Sae is able to make a strong enough case without any backlash from the public. In fact, the public _wants_ to see Shido thrown in jail.”

“And in case we hear rumors of targets that even the Phan-site miss,” mutters Yusuke, “we can tell Morgana, and we can make the calling card for him. He has paws after all.”

“But you can’t just do it by yourself!” Ann stares at Morgana, and grabs him. “Are you willing to do everything solo?”

“I had practice when I ran away,” states Morgana, giving her a smile. “And if somehow, you guys get access again, we’ll team up. Maybe our group could even grow bigger! We can get new members, and you can teach them all you know, whether or not you get access back.”

“So we’ll be back to square one then,” says Ryuji, scratching his head. “Well, at least we’ll still be friends with one another. Just because we’re no longer Phantom Thieves doesn’t mean we have to end stop hanging out with one another and treat each other like strangers.”

“You actually think I’ll let you do that anyway?” Morgana turns his head towards Ryuji, and frowns. “If anything, I’m going to check up on you every night and bother you all for fancy sushi!”

“Oh hell no! You’re just getting regular cat food from me!”

“Me as well,” adds in Yusuke. “I don’t have the money to even buy food for myself.”

“You could, if you save it to a budget!” Futaba looks up from her laptop, and frowns at him. “Just keep it in an empty paint jar and label it ‘MONEY’!”

The topic suddenly became about Yusuke’s well being, with Ann chipping in about doing commissions for people, with Yusuke –for some reason- refusing the notion, and Makoto trying to explain to him why it can help him. Haru couldn’t help but smile at the scene. Sometimes, being with friends can almost make her forget things she doesn’t want to remember.

The keyword here is ‘almost’.

Haru turns her attention back onto her phone, and searches for the video file of the day in the BioTech Lab. Makoto’s sister told her that it will never be admitted as evidence. Hearing it broke Haru’s heart. It was unfair to everyone. It was unfair to Futaba, the rest of the group, Haru…

It’s even unfair to Akechi-kun. Akechi is dead, and Shido allowed it to happen.

Yet Akechi’s death wasn’t from the arsenic poison. According to official report (Makoto snuck a peak at the official copy) he would have actually died from it. However, Akechi was dragged out of his bed, and had a bullet pass through his head, just like Joker. Haru would have called it poetic justice, but knowing the truth now, Haru can only call it cruel. Both of their deaths were cruel.

But unlike Joker’s death, something wasn’t right about Akechi’s. Haru presses a finger onto the screen, and skims through the video, to where Dr. Goto explains about the arsenic poisoning. The audio is mute, but Haru can hear the words clear as day. Dr. Goto said it with such certainly, like it was truth.

That’s why Akechi’s death bothers her the most.

~~~

_“To think you of all people have the right to be prime minister!” Haru glares at the Shadow, her eyes close to the brim with tears. “You’re nothing but a weak, selfish man who uses others without care. You killed our leader. You killed my father. You’re even trying to kill Akechi! And by poison at that! You hate your son so much you wanted him to suffer slowly?”_

_The Shadow didn’t say anything. Instead, the Shadow walks down, right onto their level. He stares at Haru, but made no movement of suddenly violence. Then he approaches Haru, and her alone. Haru felt goosebumps, stuck frozen in her place. Everyone is frozen too, as this also took them off guard. However, Haru notice is his stance, his walk… It was different. It was non-threatening, something Haru never think of to describe the man._

_When the Shadow opens his mouth, Haru felt the blood gone from her face. He asks her a question, with a voice full of worry and fear. It’s fear Haru heard once before, when Father stopped her from walking into traffic when she was five. It’s worry Haru heard once before, when Father scolded her about going off alone to see the first Big Bang restaurant. Haru realizes that everything they thought was right was in fact, wrong._

_“What do you mean Akechi is dying of poison?”_

* * *

It’s Christmas Day, and Shido is still lock up, but not in prison. His defense lawyer explained that the Phantom Leader’s parents came by. As it turns out, the brat he sent way thanks to the false assult report was one and same. To think fate would have him coming to Tokyo. Shido daresay he deserves this. Maybe this was karma’s way on getting justice on the brat.

Speaking of justice, Maki will be joining Shido on the ride to prison as well. And they would be neighbors, how lovely. Maki’s deal got him a chance of early parole though. No doubt Maki would be the perfect model prisoner to get early. At least when Maki gets out, the man will no longer have his job, and have to find work elsewhere.

Sonozaki’s deal had the Sonozaki Group transferring into new hands, alongside a name change. The man won’t be in jail, but his life will certain be a living hell. The man somehow got probation, and would have to pick a new profession. Then again, Sonozaki never did want the company. It seems that Sonozaki is the winner out of them all. To think Sonozaki finally got what he wanted because he was the last to know everything.

Shido looks down at the ground, trying to wrap his head about what Maki said days ago, about Sonozaki finding the two in the lab. Why was Akechi in Maki’s lab to begin with? Was it related to the arsenic poisoning? Did Akechi not know he was poison? Knowing Akechi, the boy must have thought he got the common cold.

Shido gives himself a low chuckle. He remembers how Akechi never bother to take a day off. Even when it was obvious the boy was sick as hell, Akechi was persistent. One time, almost an over a year ago, Akechi had a terrible cold. He passed out onto the streets, and was taken to a hospital. Shido remembers it because the tabloids found the name of the hospital, and fangirls of the detective façade sent flowers, cards, and chocolates.

Shido never let Akechi live it down. The day after his release, Shido was so amused by the events, he order the teenager to take a day off. Akechi didn’t though. He gave a huff, cross his arms, and said that he ‘didn’t want to be a disappointment’. Akechi did at least take Shido’s advice to bring napkins and a surgical mask to avoid spreading germs.

That statement stands out like thorn now. Was that Akechi’s way of trying to get approval?

_I guess it’s too late now to ask,_ thought Shido, as he places his hand onto the wall. Shido still couldn’t believe his son was dead. Even though the public thinks otherwise, Shido knows that what Maki did will never change anything. Akechi was his flesh and blood. No fake DNA tests were going to change it.

Yet how did those test change to begin with? Better yet, why did Akechi’s death change as well? Shido wanted Akechi’ s death to be quick and untraceable. A bullet would have done the job. But why the cleaner pick a different route? If Akechi died by poison, both of them would be off the hook, granted it would a mystery on how the killer got the poison to begin with.

It’s one thing to change the method without informing Shido. It’s another thing to start off doing said change of method and suddenly deciding to go back to the original plan.

Something was wrong, yet Shido still can’t put a finger on it. It’s like how apparently Maki’s fake file was ‘destroyed’. No one has the guts to enter Shido’s office without his permission. Not even his secretaries –past or present- would do such a thing. While it is possible Maki did it himself, the man never spends no more than a minute. Only those Shido asks for meetings would know everything about his office

. Like Sonozaki, who had seen the fake file. It’s too late now to ask the man how he even spot during that meeting. Everything was a mess.

_It’s also strange that Sonozaki just believed the file, just like Maki’s lies. Sonozaki should have known something was wrong! The fact the test was done by someone he trusts is even stranger. But it is possible…_

Shido felt his chest growing tighter, his heart now full of anger. He places his other hand onto the wall, and bangs on it hard, but not hard enough for everyone to hear. Sonozaki _would_ have known something was wrong. Dr. Goto is Sonozaki’s private doctor, and Goto does whatever he’s told. There’s a likely chance the test was right after all.

“Yet that son of a bitch still lied, and agreed with Maki,” mutters Shido. “But why?”

Shido thought back to the file. Sonozaki is a nosy man, depending on the subject. No doubt this would be one of them. Sonozaki would have asked Maki first, and if he got the sense Maki was lying, Sonozaki would do some investigation. Chances are Sonozaki would found out, but never tell anyone. Hell, Sonozaki’s bastard child would have stayed a secret if Shido didn’t ask, especially since the timing was right. Okumura’s screw up was frankly the only reason Sonozaki gave it up. If Okumura didn’t pushed the man’s buttons, if Okumura wasn’t a threat-

Shido stares at the grey, ugly wall. Okumura’s words…

_~~~_

_“If you don’t mind me saying, Sonozaki’s high ambition of the world and himself makes him untrustworthy. Something about that man makes me think he will certainly get in the way of your goal of Prime Minister.”_

_“Are you saying that he may be a threat to me in the future?”_

_“Who knows? Sonozaki is willing to do whatever it takes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would just destroy your goals to fulfill his own plans unrelated to politics. As a man without family, no doubt Sonozaki would be willing to use someone else’s child to achieve his goals without care. Frankly, in my opinion, you should use your own child to achieve your goals. A child must be willing help out their family –their parents- in their time of need!”_

~~~

Shido continues to start at the wall. Strange to think how the wall and people would have in common. People are grey, and people are ugly. There is no such thing as white or black, and few people are pretty on the inside and out. Everyone is guilty of something, and they all have flaws. What one has to do to spot them is to look past the cracks, and see their true nature.

Cracks usually are well hidden from sight, and taken care of, sometimes to great extents. One would never know of these cracks until it was too late…or you were informed of them ages ago, and you brushed them aside, all because you decided to take someone else’s words.

_And look where I am now…_

Shido stands up perfectly straight, and glares at the grey, ugly wall. The anger in his chest transforms itself into grief. It’s grief to the lost of his son. It’s grief to a life that could have been.

It’s grief to the fact everything went just as plan. But it’s to a plan that Shido doesn’t even want anymore. A plan, which in all honestly, cost Shido _everything_.

In one swift moment, Shido punches the wall hard, then again and again. Shido wants to make the wall have a crack. He wants the wall to truly reflect the state of humanity, and himself. But the wall is stubborn, and it’s steadfast. Over and over, the wall remains crack-free. Over and over, Shido tries to make a crack. Even a tiny one will do.

“Hey! Is everything alright in there?”

Shido soon stops the punching, but he doesn’t answer the guard outside. All Shido could do is stares at his knuckles. They were red, and Shido could see small dots on them. On closer inspection, Shido quickly realizes that it’s his blood.

The blood is dark red, just like Akechi’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By way out of hand, I realized that the opening scene with Joker's parents, the PT group scene, and Shido's last scene up to Okumura's words wouldn't be a satisfying epilogue. I had to add in a few things to show how Shido really got bit hard with his actions. 
> 
> With that being said, thank you for staying with this fic until the very end.


End file.
